#eva orner

BRANDY HELLVILLE & THE CULT OF FAST FASHION, 2024

A damning exposé of the dark, toxic underbelly of the clothing industry, told through the controversial Brandy Melville fashion brand.

Documentary “Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fashion” is a damning exposé of the dark underbelly of the clothing industry, focusing its lens on the controversial brand Brandy Melville and its toxic impact not only on its core customer base of teenage girls, but also the detrimental effects fast fashion has on the global environment. Directed by Eva Orner, this documentary shines a harsh light on…

Day 2 of film hell, and I saw two documentaries of opposing tones and a feminist bestiality film.

The Eagle Huntress spends a year focusing on 13-year-old Mongolian resident Ashol-Pan, who attempts and succeeds greatly to break the rules given by the elders and do what no female, let alone child in Mongolia has had the nerve or the permission to do - tame an eagle and use it to hunt. It’s risky filmmaking, especially when Ashol-Pan climbs down a cliff to capture her own eaglet. So yes, she is a national treasure and this film is a delight. Hope Blue Sky don’t screw this up, knowing their work outside of Peanuts, although I can already see how they’ll depict the four sexist elders.

Daisy Ridley’s five minutes of narration are less of a publicity stunt than they are a way for children who can follow Rey’s feminist attitude but not subtitles to absorb themselves into Ashol-Pan’s world and goals. Director Otto Bell had the feeling this and a pop song would make his documentary too mainstream, but these aren’t too much of a bother - it’s visually stunning and crowd-pleasing in the best way possible, and your daughters need it more than another Mulan.

The next film I saw dealt with womanhood’s confinements in a vastly different way. Frankly, no film has beared the title “Wild” and completely lived up to it until now. It’s about Ania, a woman who is put through more jobs than she can fit into 24 hours including taking care of her dying grandfather and spending time with friends she only pretends to care about before stepping into her flat in isolation, and she takes care of all of this by literally taking a crap in her office and getting a feral wolf to lick her pussy, because he represents all the freedom she feels she deserves. I saw this on the exact same room as Eagle Huntress, the exact same seat too, and I have absolutely no regrets. Subtle, original, engrossing crap. My kind of indie cinema.

The third was Mum’s choice, Chasing Asylum, a documentary about Australia’s inhumane policy on asylum seekers, and boy, few documentaries have ever made me think “This is why cinema needs documentaries” quite as much as this. It’s all hell. The island of Nauru’s security guards have been claimed to be rapists and pedophiles. Refugees have been resettled to countries of the poorest economy and conditions imaginable. Seekers have been shot dead, had their throats slit or lost an eye. Refugees have been left stranded on boats because the Australian Government shut them down. Prisoners of Nauru aren’t even allowed to wear hats in the canteen. Nauru same Guatanamo indeed.

Although the count on refugee resettlement has eased throughout recent months, the hate has yet to end. Its filmmakers are going out of their way to make sure every human and government official around the world including the UN sees this movie; they even went as far as to project extracts from the film directly onto the Australian high commission. Guys, you really ought to see this or at least take action. It’s important like you couldn’t possibly imagine.

The @BFI #LFF2016 programme has more films by women than ever before. Here are 5 you can't miss:

The BFI London Film Festival is almost upon us again! It seems like moments since last year’s festival preview, but another group of films are straining at the leash, desperate to be set free upon a public pining for silver-screen adventure. The long-standing injustice of the under-representation of women both in front of and behind the camera is finally getting some traction. The number of women…