The 20th Cineffable Film Festival which was held from October 30th through November 2 in Paris presented 70 films – new features, documentaries and short films, as well as previous winners in the festivals. A special screening of the classic Mädchen in Uniform (1931) was also well attended. This year The world Unseen by Shamin Sarif from the UK won the public prize for best film, the story of two women of Indian heritage who form a strong bound during the apartheid in South Africa. Best documentary went to Mary Olive Smith's celebrated documentary A Walk to Beautiful of young women who bare children too early and suffer medical consequences that ostracize them from their communities. Snill from Denmark won the best animation/experimental category a film about a young girl who is so nice that she disappears but later returns with power to her family and school.
In the documentary category there were several excellent subjects such as freedom fighters during the Algerian war - Moudjahidate by Alexandra Dols and Risk Stretch or Die by Saskia Heyden from Germany. The filmmaker followed around the French drag king Ocean Le Roy now based in Berlin for a year, a celebrity in the transgender scene who also gave a live performance in conjunction with the screening. I spoke to Saskia during the festival in an exclusive interview for Movie Magazine who spoke about the making of the film. (interview follows)
For Movie Magazine International, this is Moira Sullivan, Paris.

© 2008 - Moira Sullivan - Air Date: 11/12/08