Stuntwomen

Synopsis

STUNTWOMEN portrays three women stunts in changing times and offers a look at how relationships of power and hierarchy between genders are anchored in bodies and shape them in the world of cinema.
The #metoo movement initiated in Hollywood in 2017 offers a new momentum to the denunciations of sexist relations specific to the film industry. However, the cinematographic representations of women are too entrenched to change quickly: women’s roles in action cinema are mostly victims. The camera focuses on cuts, sexual mutilation, blood, crying. But who carries the weight of this exalted violence ? Behind the characters on the screen, who is the physical person who jumps under a car to escape a killer?

Director Biography

Born in 1987, Elena Avdija graduated in sociology from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences) in Paris. After a master's degree in documentary filmmaking at the INA, she worked as an assistant director, developing scripts for historical documentaries, notably for Point du Jour and Arte in Paris. Upon her return to Switzerland, she specialized in casting extras and small roles for series and feature films. This part of her work highlights her interest in the professions that evolve in the shadow of the film industry.