Female composers

Movie
German title	Female composers
Country of production	Germany
original language	German , French , English
Publishing year	2018
length	95 minutes
Age rating	FSK 0
Rod
Director	Kyra Steckeweh , Tim van Beveren
script	Kyra Steckeweh, Tim van Beveren, Ivan Salaj
production	Kyra Steckeweh, Tim van Beveren, Karla Viebahn
music	Fanny Hensel , Emilie Mayer , Mel Bonis , Lili Boulanger , Kyra Steckeweh
camera	Tim van Beveren, Nils Liebheit
cut	Tim van Beveren, Kamil Goerlich, Rita Wally
occupation
	Kyra Steckeweh; Beatrix Borchard; Christine Géliot; Jörg Kuhn; Mary Ellen Kitchens; Laurent Martin; Tobias precipitation; Almut Runge-Woll; Susanne Wosnitzka; Reinhard Wulfhorst;

Female Composers is a 2018 documentary by Tim van Beveren and Kyra Steckeweh that thematizes the story of four female musicians of the 19th century .

action

The film highlights the historical and personal circumstances under which four women created their works in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Berlin filmmaker Tim van Beveren accompanies the pianist Kyra Steckeweh with his camera on her search for traces in France , Italy , Poland and Germany to the places of life and work of Fanny Hensel , Emilie Mayer , Mel Bonis and Lili Boulanger . The previously unpublished piano sonata in D minor by Emilie Mayer had its world premiere in the first recording of Steckeweh in the film after almost 150 years.

production

Female composers was financed and implemented by the Berlin production company tvb mediaproductions exclusively with private funds and through successful crowdfunding .

criticism

The film was largely positively received by the media. Above all, the “passionate commitment” with which the lives of the largely unknown female composers are illuminated was praised.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung described the film as a "symbol of equality, albeit as a retrospective."

Planned continuation

Already partially financed by a second crowdfunding, the filmmakers began filming further portraits of the composers Sophia Maria Westenholz , Ethel Smyth and Dora Pejačević in 2019 .

Others

In the course of the filming, the grave of the composer Emilie Mayer, previously thought to be lost, was rediscovered in Berlin's Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof .

Since March 2020, individual portraits of the women composers have been made available to everyone free of charge on the Internet under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND) in the series Women composers . As the first film in this series, the film portrait about Fanny Hensel was put online on March 27, 2020. In May 2020 the second part of the series, a film portrait about Lili Boulanger, was published. The filmmakers “understand the music and the extraordinary biographies of these women as common property, as part of our cultural heritage” and therefore want to make it visible and audible for everyone, including for use in teaching at schools, music colleges and academies.

Awards

2019: Best Feature Documentary, 10th World Music and Independent Film Festival
2019: Best Feature Documentary, New York Movie Awards
2018: Best Documentary made by or about Women, Alive International Documentary Film Festival

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Release certificate for female composers . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF).
↑ Ursula Lux: Documentary about female composers can be seen in the KuK . In: Mainpost , December 3, 2019. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
↑ Short review on Filmdienst. Retrieved May 22, 2020 .
↑ Film tip of the day: Forgotten virtuosos . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 18, 2019. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
^ Helge Birkelbach: Cinema tip: female composers. The forgotten . In: Concerti , October 24, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
↑ Description of the project on Startnext Crowdfunding. Retrieved May 22, 2020 .
↑ Description of the project on Startnext Crowdfunding. Retrieved May 22, 2020 .
^ Website of the film festival. Retrieved May 22, 2020 .
^ New York Movie Awards website. Retrieved May 22, 2020 .
^ Website of the film festival. Retrieved May 25, 2020 .

[FSK-1] Release certificate for female composers . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF).

[2] Ursula Lux: Documentary about female composers can be seen in the KuK . In: Mainpost , December 3, 2019. Retrieved May 22, 2020.

[3] Short review on Filmdienst. Retrieved May 22, 2020 .

[4] Film tip of the day: Forgotten virtuosos . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 18, 2019. Retrieved May 22, 2020.

[5] Helge Birkelbach: Cinema tip: female composers. The forgotten . In: Concerti , October 24, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2020.

[6] Description of the project on Startnext Crowdfunding. Retrieved May 22, 2020 .

[7] Description of the project on Startnext Crowdfunding. Retrieved May 22, 2020 .

[8] Website of the film festival. Retrieved May 22, 2020 .

[9] New York Movie Awards website. Retrieved May 22, 2020 .

[10] Website of the film festival. Retrieved May 25, 2020 .