A short film exploring the lives of women across Birmingham and the Black Country during lockdown is to have its première on YouTube and will be available free.
Women in Lockdown features an ensemble community cast and combines footage from Zoom sessions, mobile phones and 'socially distanced' filmed sequences. Developed from research with women of different ages and cultural backgrounds including disabled and D/deaf women, the project captures the experiences of women living through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Janice Connolly BEM, artistic director of Birmingham-based company Women and Theatre, began researching the film in May by interviewing more than 35 women over Zoom.
She said, “this is a unique moment in history and we feel it’s important that the lives of ordinary women are shared and represented. Women and Theatre remains committed as always to making deep work about things that matter.”
The Women in Lockdown artistic team includes Women in Theatre’s Jo Gleave, composer Nicola McAteer, filmmaker Sima Gonsai and D/deaf creative practitioner Maral Mamaghani. The film is performed by a community cast of more than 40 women, many of them taking part in their first performance piece.
The film will be released on Women and Theatre’s YouTube channel at 7:30PM on Saturday 14 November. It is fully captioned and accessible to D/deaf audiences.