A black and white image of the younger Maeve, with a severe fringe and long bob, in school uniform that includes a white blouse and striped tie. She is looking out under her fringe with a critical gaze at something off screen.

Culture Club: Watching MAEVE by Pat Murphy, John Davies and Robert Smith

Selina Robertson Writing

By Christine Molloy. Because the film is a miracle. I found myself seeing myself in the character of Maeve, even more so the second time round. As an Irish woman who came of age in the 80s, this is a very powerful thing. Maeve is the only cinematic version of the young woman I was, growing up in the overwhelmingly oppressive bad old days of holy Catholic 1980s Ireland.

The image is from the film Censor. It shows a white woman with dark hair, wearing a white ruched dress. She appears to be standing in the woods at night, and she is spattered with bright red fake blood.

Culture Club: Watching Prano Bailey-Bond’s CENSOR

Selina Robertson Writing

By Anahit Behrooz. Prano Bailey-Bond’s video nasty-inspired horror Censor is about many things. But it is also, utterly and irrefutably, about grief, and the absurdity of seeking or even entertaining closure after life-altering loss.

Kangyu Garam, who has short copper hair and glasses, and is wrapped in a scarf that covers the lower half of her face, shooting with a digital camera on a tripod.

Culture Club: Watching Kangyu Garam’s Documentaries

Selina Robertson Writing

By Ania Ostrowska.
I’m looking at the robust, although often critically snubbed, genre of feminist activist documentary, as seen in the work of one brilliant Korean documentarian, Kangyu Garam. High-octane feminist emotions guaranteed!

Culture Club: Programming PUMPING IRON II: THE WOMEN

Selina Robertson Writing

By Selina Robertson.
The idea for our Lesbian Camp: Yes It’s F**cking Political season started with a t-shirt. A blue t-shirt that had on its front a pink imprint of the Rio’s Pumping Iron II: The Women cinema programme flyer from 1986.

Lesbian Camp: Pumping Iron II: The Women by George Butler

Selina Robertson Writing

By Annette Kuhn. I observed that the all-female audience in the packed auditorium responded gleefully as one, talking back to the characters, cheering on the “goodies”, booing the “baddies”. Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time.

The image is a colour screenshot from the film But I'm a Cheerleader. It shows a life-size model of a pale blue living room, with a false fireplace and false window. Two characters in pink dresses and grey aprons are pushing pale blue vacuum cleaners from opposite sides of the room. An older woman in a pink cardigan and skirt sits on the floor instructing them. Another character in pink sits sideways on a chair in the background.

Lesbian Camp: But I’m a Cheerleader by Jamie Babbit

Selina Robertson Writing

By Clara Bradbury-Rance. Jamie Babbit’s characters have a habit of wreaking as much as havoc as possible, romantically or otherwise, in the cisheteropatriarchy. This politics is profound but it’s also pink, personal, parodic and it pops.