Väninnor – berättelser från garderoben

Väninnor – berättelser från garderoben

De är fem kvinnor i åldrarna 60 till 85 år och de är lesbiska. De har levt med rädslan att vara annorlunda och med risken att förskjutas av vänner, släktingar och arbetskamrater.

I åratal har de smugit med sina känslor; dubbelliv har varit deras vardag. Någon av dem har aldrig tidigare talat om sin homosexualitet ens med sina närmaste. Med stark närvaro och sprängkraft berättar de fem kvinnorna om sina liv och om sin förbjudna kärlek. Tidstypisk musik, pressklipp, arkivbilder och privata fotografier illustrerar deras berättelser i denna varmt innerliga dokumentärfilm.

Väninnor” är en film om de enorma omvälvande krafter som, alldeles osynligt, kan försiggå under den lugnaste av ytor, det stillsammaste av kvinnoansikten: en hemmafrus professionella leende mot fotografen. Det är en film om ett trots allt, mot alla odds. Det är, i ordets rätta bemärkelse, en kärleksfilm  och en storslagen sådan. Se den!”

 /Maaret Koskinen, Dagens Nyheter, 1996

Regi: Cecilia Neant-Falk, Nina Bergström
Medverkande: Abbe Österberg, Boel Matthis, Ellen Lindström, Frieda Lööv, Kerstin Hammarsten
Åldersgräns: Barntillåten
Längd: 55 min
Land: Sverige
Produktionsår: 1996
Distribution:
Svensk Distribution
Folkets Bio
Kontakt: rosemarie.strand@folketsbio.se 073-6827530
Boka visning: bokning@filmlagret.se Telefon: 040-12 00 82
Boka visning & regissörsamtal: 
Sander C. Neant Falk, 073-9961191 email: sander@neantfalk.se
Väninnor – berättelser från garderoben
Produktionsfakta
International Festivals:
Bookings: Kajsa Hedström: +46 8 665 11 22
Swedish Film Institute phone: +46 8 665 11 00
Companions – Tales from the Closet
Production fact

PRESS

Priser och visningar

Föreläsningar i samband med visning av filmen:

• Möt en filmare , Folkets Bio Umeå, Göteborg, Stockholm, Östersund, Visby
• LO-idédebatt, Arbetets Museum, Norrköping
• New York Lesbian & Gay Film Festival -97
• San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival -97
• Columbia University, Film studies, New York -97
• Barnard College, Women studies, New York -97
• Oaksberg College, Nordic studies, Minneapolis -97
• University of Rhode Island – Kingston
• University of Minnesota, Advanced Feminist Studies, Minneapolis -97
• 1997 Yearly Conference for Swedish Teachers in America, Wisconsin University

Priser
• OUTstanding Documentary Feature Award 1997- Los Angeles Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
• RFSU-Priset 1997 – Riksförbundet för Sexual Upplysning
• TUPILAK Kultur pris 1997 – TUPILAK Föreningen för Nordiska Homosexuella Kulturarbetare
• Rosa Rummets Kulturpris 1997 – RFSL -Stockholm
• Le Prix C.E.L. 1998 – Centre Evolutif de Lilith, France

Festivaler i urval

• Seattle International Film Festival ,
• Vancouver International Film Festival,
• 13 Festival de Cine del mar del Plata, Argentina
• San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival,
• New York Lesbian & Gay Film Festival

TV-försäljning
DR – Dansk Television, YLE – Finsk Television

Den 3 maj 2022 bjöd SAQMI och Doc Lounge in till nypremiären av Sveriges första lesbiska dokumentärfilm – Väninnor – Berättelser från garderoben!
Väninnor – berättelser från garderoben
ny premiär Folkteatern september 2022
med regissörerna Neant Falk och Bergström
arr Saqmi Queer Archive

FRIEDA ws born in Vienna in 1924, but was brought up in the Sovjet Union. As a young woman she was constantly fallling in love with other women, but when she came to Sweden after the war, she tried hard to be as women should. Frieda ended up living a married family life for more than 30 years.

”I wasn’t homosexual. No, I was just an odd sort, always falling in love with girls, or women. That was all” 

KERSTIN was born in 1926 in Stockholm. She worked as a schoolteacher for almost 40 years, until 1981, when she changed career and was ordained priest in the Swedish Church. Almost all her life Kerstin has managed to keep her relationships with women secret from both friends and relatives.

”We belittle God when we think He forbids some people to love eachother. Love closeness and understanding is something we all need, and you shrink as a human being if you don’t have someone to love.

ELLEN was born in 1932 in Germany. She was brought up in a danish fosterhome during the war. Elen and her foster-sister, Ulla, fell in love with each other. Their relationship lasted for 40 years, even though Ellen had a child, got married and moved to Sweden.

”It wasn’t love in my case. He didn’t love me either, for that matter. What I wanted was to secure my child’s future; economically.”

 BOEL was born in 1933 and brought up in an intellectual milieu in Stockholm. Early in life she married the man she loved. In the seventies Boel got involved with the women’s movement. It was during that time she met women who lived a lesbian life.

”People are inclined to see us as cousins or sisters, instead of lovers. That is probably because women generally don’t count as sexual beings, other than in relation to men.

ABBE was born in 1925 in the swedish countryside and brought up in a strictly religious fosterhome. Abbe always knew she was different. Loneliness, longing and self-loathing was part of her everyday life for years, until she finally met other women who was ”like that”.

”Then they were going to have a meeting… Women like that, only. In one place! And I thought – Oh my God, how will that look like? What on earth have I gotten myself into!?”

 Nina Bergström was born in 1962 in Sweden. Director and actor in theatre and film. Actor education at the Commedia school Teater – verkstedet in Oslo, Norway. She also compose music and draw storyboards.

Filmography: Companions – Tales from the Closet 1996

 Cecilia Neant-Falk was born in 1971 in Sweden. Filmmaker and journalist.

Film education at Ecole Supérieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle in Paris, France, and film studies at the University of Stockholm.

Filmography: Remordes Posthumes, 1993

                      Companions – Tales from the Closet 1996