Galway Film Society celebrates International Women's Day with screening of Tomboy

To celebrate International Women’s Day on Thursday, March 8, Galway Film Society and Global Women’s Studies NUIG & Amnesty International have come together to screen French director,  Céline Sciamma’s new film Tomboy.

The screening will take place at the O’Flaherty Theatre, NUIG on Thursday, May 8 at 8.00pm. Tickets are €7.00 or €5.00 concession.

International Women's Day has been observed since the early 1900's. Nowadays on March 8, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. If you would like to know more about what's happening globally, then check out internationalwomensday.com

Tomboy is an interesting choice for the day as it explores the politics of gender in the world of pre-teen kids. The story of a 10 year-old girl, a tomboy, pretending to be a boy in a new circle of friends is one built on deception and it could easily have travelled on a doom laden road towards discovery and tragedy. Instead director Sciamma takes a gentler route.

Laure, her sister Jeanne and their parents move to a new neighbourhood in the summer holidays. Laure looks, dresses and acts like a boy and neither of her parents mind. She soon makes friends with a local girl called Lisa and introduces herself as Michael, a boy. Lisa in turn introduces her to the gang of kids who roam around the neighbourhood in a pack and pretty soon Michael has blended in. Of course, discovery by parents and friends isn’t far away, but in the meantime, Sciamma depicts the ways children conform to gender stereotypes or at least to notions of masculinity and femininity they believe are correct.

Winner, Audience Award, GAZE Festival Dublin, 2011.