Director: Kitty Green | Australia/Ukraine | Documentary | 2013 | 80 mins
Film source: Cinephil
“The world sees our country as one big brothel. Tourists come here to find whores. We believe that we need to protest against this. We need to do everything we can so the world sees Ukraine as a country where naked girls protest, not sell their bodies”, says Inna Sevchenko, a member of the activist group Femen which is in the center of Kitty Green’s, an Australian director with Ukrainian roots, debut documentary. Femen is a feminist group of topless crusaders who write slogans on their bare breasts shouting protests against the world’s perception of Ukrainian women as brides for sale or objects of sex tourism and, like the punk artists from Pussy Riot, they stand up to dictators. Green spent 14 months living with four of the members. The result is an intriguing portrait of the state of feminism in Ukraine and much more than that. Half way through the film shifts focus to the founder of group – an abusive patriarch who claims that he is “the father of new feminism”. Most of the girls are in conflict with his views but it’s hard to break free.