ACMI Stories & Ideas Folgen

Are the heroines of modern anime confronting the stereotyped female characters that preceded them? Or are they still designed merely to service the fantastical and unrealistic desires of male fans? In this traditionally male-dominated genre, the growing trend of empowered female protagonists is a welcome development. Still, there’s no shortage of anime productions that feature excessive ‘fan-service’ – highly objectified representations of women. For every baddass heroine like Princess Mononoke’s San, there are the subjugated female characters in Keijo, designed purely for the male gaze. Our panel of academics, critics and cultural commentators unraveled anime’s approach to women and tested whether it could become a new ground for feminism. About The Panel Jessica McCallum Jessica McCallum currently works with Madman Entertainment, a Melbourne founded and leading Australian independent entertainment company. As the Head of Social Media and Anime Marketing, Jess is responsible for social media strategies and marketing initiatives. She has played an instrumental part in propelling the growth of Madman's anime audience and community by developing effective and engaging campaigns for key product categories and releases. Working alongside peers who are pushing the organisation in exciting new directions, both in theatrical (Your Name, A Silent Voice), national anime festivals and direct-to-consumer digital streaming via AnimeLab, Jess is extremely passionate about bringing the latest and greatest anime content to Aussie and NZ fans. Phillip Brophy Philip Brophy curated the first major retrospective of manga artist Osamu Tezuka for the National Gallery of Victoria in 2006. The exhibition toured to the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco the following year. In 2005, he was commissioned to write “100 Anime” for the British Film Institute in London. In previous years he has curated film retrospective programmes for the Melbourne International Film Festival on Tezuka (1995) and Studio Ghibli (1997). He interviewed Hayao Miyazaki in Tokyo for the exhibition he curated on Japanese and American animation for the Museum of Contemporary Art, “Kaboom!” (1993). He has been published extensively in international journals on anime and manga. Nikki Lam Nikki Lam is a visual artist, curator and programmer based in Melbourne. Working primarily with the moving image, she is passionate about the cross-sections of screen cultures, media arts and representations. Born in Hong Kong, she is interested in exploring the translations of post-colonial identities and narratives in the hybrid world, often through the studies of rituals, language, time and space. She is the former Artistic Director of Channels Video Art Festival (2014-2016) and has worked in a range of arts organisations including Footscray Community Arts Centre, Peril Magazine and Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT). She is currently ACMI X Coordinator for the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. Nikki grew up with anime in Hong Kong and would consider the medium as the fundamental ingredient of her formative years. Title: Kill La Kill Season One Copyright: Madman Entertainment Title: Keijo!!!!!! Season One Copyright: Crunchyroll Title: Psycho Pass Season One Copyright: Madman Entertainment Title: Attack on Titan Season One Copyright: Madman Entertainment Title: Perfume Live @ Tokyo Dome Copyright: Perfume Records

The representation of gender diversity on screen has a complex history, from invisibility to stereotypical representations of otherness, including the sexually mischievous to the homicidal maniac. In this conversation our panel of filmmakers, critics, festival directors and artists to talked about the history and politics of gender diverse representation in films like Funeral Parade of Roses, Tomboy, The Crying Game and Boys Don’t Cry, as well as Orange is the New Black, Transparent and Billions. The panel will explore the problematic casting and stereotyping of gender diverse characters to the more progressive titles that have paved the way for more positive and nuanced gender expression on screen. About The Panel Bobuq Sayed (Host) Bobuq Sayed is a writer, multi-media artist and community organiser of the Afghan diaspora. They co-edit Archer Magazine and they are the co-founder of the Australian QTPoC activist collective, Colour Tongues. They are one-half of the sound art project, SWALLOW, and an active member of performance art vehicle, Embittered Swish. Their work highlights the unresolved and the grotesque; the ugliness of marginality. Amos Gebhardt Gebhardt’s cinematic portraits of humanness invoke multiple art forms including dance, documentary and performance. Drawn to disruptive representations of identity, Gebhardt has created moving image works for gallery exhibitions, cinema and broadcast exhibiting at ACMI, MONA, Gertrude Contemporary, M+, Monash Gallery of Art, SBS and ABC. Gebhardt is a recipient of the Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship, given to select artists who demonstrate outstanding talent and exceptional courage in their practice and is currently working on two video installations to be presented at the Adelaide Biennial 2018. Cerise Howard Cerise Howard is the Artistic Director of the Czech and Slovak Film Festival of Australia. A co-founding member of tilde: Melbourne Trans & Gender Diverse Film Festival and a committee member of the Melbourne Cinémathèque, she is also a freelance writer and critic who reports for the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival daily newspaper and co-hosts Plato's Cave, broadcast live and podcast weekly by 3RRR. Cerise is also the bassist for punk, performance art, queer rock band Queen Kong and The HOMOsapiens. They will be launching "You Come from a DFO, I Come from a UFO" Thursday February 1st at the Northcote Social Club. Copyright Acknowlegments Title: Eat the Rich Copyright: New Line Cinema Title: Rocky Horror Picture Show Copyright: 20th Century Fox Title: Dallas Buyers Club Copyright: Focus Features Title: Women in Revolt Copyright: Morrissey Title: Funeral Parade of Roses Copyright: Art Theatre Guild Title: The Crying Game Copyright: Palace Pictures / Miramax Title: Orlando Copyright: Sony Pictures Classics Title: Tangerine Copyright: Magnolia Pictures Title: Something Must Break Copyright: Garagefilm International / Fasad Postproduktion Title: There are no others Copyright: Amos Gebhardt

ACMI presents Changing the Game, where speakers Steph Convery, Clem Ford, Leena van Deventer and Rae Johnston talk survival strategies for being a woman with an opinion on the internet. Online games and social media have dramatically changed the way we interact, creating communities with common passions and interests that transcend geographical, socio/cultural and political boundaries. However, the online world has a dark underbelly where trolling, racism, verbal abuse, sexual harassment, doxing and misogyny are rife. In this provocative and proactive panel discussion, we explore the current landscape of social interactions through technology and the ways diverse players are taking the power back. Warning: Contains strong language and content that some might find upsetting or disturbing. Copyright acknowledgements: Title: Damsels in Distress: Part 1 – Tropes vs Women in Video Games Copyright: Feminist Frequency Please visit www.acmi.net.au for further information.