WATCH TRAILER

Marianne

A film by Valentina Canavesio

France | 2023 | 77 minutes | Color | DVD | French | English | Order No. W231306 |

Set in the context of France's laïcité, (France's version of secularism), MARIANNE follows seven Muslim women challenging bans on wearing hijabs, headscarfs, face coverings, and abayas at school and in public. Their stories resonate globally, urging viewers to reevaluate liberty, feminism, and Western identity.

Host a screening

SYNOPSIS

Named after the French Republic's national icon, which portrays the Goddess of Liberty, MARIANNE follows French Muslim women navigating personal choice and self-expression amidst public bias and media and political stereotypes. Though feminism, laïcité (French secularism), and Islam are frequently a part of the national discourse, these women often find themselves the topic of conversation but are seldom invited to participate in it.

The documentary gives insight into the lives of seven Muslim women from across France, each representing diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and professions. We meet a horticulturist in a mixed-race family, a "mipster" (Muslim hipster) protesting workplace discrimination, a blonde medical student convert, a public-school teacher turned opera singer, a lawyer from the banlieues, a social media influencer, and a once-homeless, single mother now serving on a UK council.

Their stories challenge France's monolithic portrayal of Muslim women as oppressed and regressive. Through their varied perspectives, MARIANNE provokes reflection on laïcité, universal feminism, liberty, and the essence of French identity. At a time when French secularism is growing increasingly intolerant, film participants Leïla, Saima, Narimènem, Hanane, Caroline, Maïmouna, and Emmanuelle urge viewers to reconsider notions of feminism, identity, and liberty.

Beyond France's borders, these women's experiences resonate with Muslim women worldwide, spotlighting a global quest for understanding and representation.

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

  • Award Winner, Imagine This Women’s Film Festival 2022
  • Honorable Mention, Voices Rising Film Festival 2023
  • UConn, Storrs, CT, USA
  • Festival Pluriel.les, Compiègne, France
  • Broadway Theatre, Barking and Dagenham, London, UK
  • Cinéma Bonne Garde, Nantes, France
  • Eaton DC, Washington, DC, USA
  • Cinélux, Genève, Switzerland
  • Imagine This Women’s Film Festival, NY, USA
  • Montreal Independent Film Festival, Canada
  • International Women Filmmakers Festival, Izmir, Turkey
  • Cultural Center Altrimenti, Luxembourg
  • City of Stains, France
  • De Cinema, Antwerp, Belgium, October 21st

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Valentina Canavesio

Valentina Canavesio is a documentary film and television producer whose debut feature, Footprint, premiered at the Sheffield Doc/Fest in 2016 and is distributed by Women Make Movies. Her feature work also includes producing My Italian Secret (2014), These Birds Walk (2013), One Day On Earth (2011) and Welcome to Detroit (2010). Her television work includes having produced the highest rated specials of Italian Public television’s longest running magazine show, Linea Verde.

Her passion for social justice issues has led her around the world for various NGOs and the UN producing short-form content in places such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan and the Philippines, often as a one-woman crew. From this work, her film Biblioburro, shot in Colombia, aired repeatedly on PBS and was selected as one of the audience’s favorite stories of the year. The film was later turned into a children’s book that has been translated into half a dozen languages.

Valentina holds a BA with honors from the University of Southern California and a Master's degree in International Affairs from Sciences-Po University in Paris. She was selected as one of the up-and-coming filmmakers of 2010 for the Berlinale Talent Campus. (10/23)

Credits

Director: Valentina Canavesio

Editors: Anne Laure D'hooghe and Mohamed Elsafty

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN

Voices of Muslim Women from the US South

When one thinks of the American Deep South, the image of veiled Muslim students strolling the University of Alabama campus is the last thing that comes to mind. VOICES OF MUSLIM WOMEN FROM THE US SOUTH is a documentary that explores the Muslim culture through the lens of five University of Alabama Muslim students. The film tackles how Muslim women carve a space for self-expression in the Deep South and how they negotiate their identities in a predominantly Christian society that often has unflattering views about Islam and Muslims. Through interviews with students and faculty at Alabama, this film examines representations and issues of agency by asking: How do Muslim female students carve a space in a culture that thinks of Muslims as terrorists and Muslim women as backward?
Learn more

They Call Me Muslim

In popular Western imagination, a Muslim woman in a veil – or hijab – is a symbol of Islamic oppression. But what does it mean for women’s freedom when a democratic country forbids the wearing of the veil? In this provocative documentary, filmmaker Diana Ferrero portrays the struggle of two women – one in France and one in Iran – to express themselves freely. In 2004, the French government instituted an "anti-veil law," forbidding Muslim girls from wearing the hijab to school. Samah, a teenager in Paris who, at 14 decided to wear the veil, explains how the law attacks her sense of identity – and does not make her feel liberated. “Who says that freedom is not wearing anything on your head?” she asks. Half a world away in Tehran, “K,” forced to wear the hijab by the Islamic regime, defiantly wears it her own way – and her translucent scarf loosely draped over her hair puts her at risk of arrest. When Ferrero films her at home, K, comfortable in a tank top and shorts, says, “They call me Muslim... But do you see me as a Muslim? What do you have in your mind for a Muslim person?” Beautifully shot and finely crafted, THEY CALL ME MUSLIM highlights how women still must struggle for the right to control their own bodies – not only under theocratic regimes, but also in secular, democratic countries where increasing discrimination against Muslims and sexism intersect.
Learn more

I Am the Revolution

A Portrait of Three Women in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq Leading the Fight for Gender Equality
Learn more

Too Black to be French

In this documentary film, Isabelle Boni-Claverie explores the role of race and the persistence of racism in France, as well as the impact of the French colonial past. Through an exploration of her personal family history, and interviews with historians and academics, TOO BLACK TO BE FRENCH peels back the layers of race relations in supposedly institutionally colorblind France. Boni-Claverie, a French-Ivorian, who grew up in upper class French society, unpacks how socio-economic privilege doesn’t mean protection from racial discrimination. Boni-Claverie solicits anonymous individuals to speak on their daily experiences with race, class, discrimination and micro-aggressions. TOO BLACK TO BE FRENCH also features interviews with acclaimed sociologists and historians including Pap Ndiaye, Eric Fassin, Achille Mbembe, and Patrick Simon to help contextualize racial history in France. Boni-Claverie’s film starts an urgent discussion on French society's inequalities and discrimination.
Learn more

Muslim in America

In this Peabody Award-winning exposé,  director  Deeyah  Khan uses her uniquely intimate filming style to investigate the  rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes in the  U.S. 
Learn more

Voices Unveiled: Turkish Women Who Dare

Can Islamic values co-exist with full equality for women? VOICES UNVEILED examines this timely issue through portraits of three women pursuing life paths and careers of their own choosing in present-day Turkey. Each has defied social expectations in a democratic, secular nation where religious fundamentalism has re-emerged as a political force and patriarchal values still prevail. Well-known textile artist Belkis Belpinar, whose work combines science and kilim rug traditions, resisted her father’s wishes that she study engineering. Dancer and psychologist Banu Yucelar braved family opposition to modern dance, widely perceived as a form of prostitution. Women’s rights activist Nur Bakata Mardin helps women in underserved communities, where old beliefs hold sway, form small business cooperatives. As engaging as its subjects, VOICES UNVEILED punctuates its in-depth portraits with insights from other Turks and lively discussions that include intergenerational debates over veiling. The film is a valuable companion to WOMEN OF TURKEY, which offers a different take on gender roles that embrace modern lifestyles and Islamic culture.
Learn more

Women of Turkey: Between Islam and Secularism

In this thought-provoking documentary, veiled and unveiled women explore relationships between Islam and secularism in present-day Turkey, where millions of women, many of them educated and urban, wear the headscarf or hijab. For her survey, filmmaker Naccache, who was born in Turkey and raised in Lebanon, draws on historical footage and individual visits with Turkish women from across the professional spectrum. Among them are the owner of a gallery devoted to Islamic art; a left-wing journalist whose politics stem from her religious convictions; a young intellectual adhering to a spirituality based on no single religion; and the film critic and columnist for a popular online newspaper. Their wide-ranging interviews, which analyze the background and impact of controversial bans on headscarves in universities and civil service, yield fresh perspectives on Turkish women’s integration of Islamic culture and modern lifestyles, as well as their far-reaching achievements and priorities for the future.
Learn more

The Feeling of Being Watched

An Arab American filmmaker uncovers the story of her community’s surveillance by the FBI long before 9/11
Learn more
Shopping Cart