This programme explores the themes of bodies, sex, religion, and home through the compelling lens of the world’s greatest women directors. 'Women Make Film IV' features screenings of five chapters from Mark Cousins’ documentary Women Make Film.

‘Bodies’ questions how women directors have filmed it and explores the symbolism of nakedness and its relations with religion, gender and class. The chapter transitions into ‘Sex’, examining the many ways in which it is anticipated and imagined; its complexity in acknowledging control and submission; and its contrasting wariness which is often seen as demonic.

In ‘Home’, Cousins examines the theme of the dream home from an immobile star of domestic life to clips that depict homelessness and safety, destruction and reconstruction. ‘Religion’ begins with four scenes of genuine religious intensity and ends with one of the boldest films about rejecting religious dogma. Finally, ‘Work’ reminds us of work ethos; the repetitive yet rewarding nature of domestic work; and the pleasure, purpose, or dignity we may find at a workplace.

The screening will be followed by post-screening talk in Cantonese with M+ Curator of Hong Kong Film and Media Li Cheuk-to.

Mark Cousins (b. 1965, England) is a filmmaker, critic, and programmer based in Edinburgh. He is known for The First Movie (2009), The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011), A Story of Children and Film (2013), and The Eyes of Orson Welles (2018). He is the co-founder with Tilda Swinton of the 8½ Foundation.