#9 Episode: Conversation with Inna Shevchenko on “Girls and Gods”
This film talk was recorded in English.
On the occasion of the Austrian premiere of Girls and Gods, we met with filmmaker and activist Inna Shevchenko to talk about her first work as a filmmaker/screenwriter - behind and in front of the camera. The film is directed by Arash T. Riahi and Verena Soltiz. It follows Inna while she meets with different women and their spiritual, political, and bodily quests for freedom, intertwining activism, trauma, and transcendence in a cinematic discussion on what it means to live and resist in a patriarchal world in the context of the three monotheistic religions.
In our conversation, Inna speaks about her approach to filmmaking and her process of shaping a constructive dialogue even when opinions were opposing each other, she also talks about the process of selecting the women and initiatives who appear in Girls and Gods. Inna also reflects on the difficult task of shaping the film’s many-hours raw version into its final, concentrated form and how editing became an act of both letting go and sharpening political meaning to find the right balance. We also discuss what her wishes for activism are and why she feels the discussion of religious tradition and practices is essential to feminism. Inna also reflects on the role of cinema and how it can become a tool for collective empowerment and spiritual rebellion.
Girls and Gods is a radical and challenging exploration of womanhood, belief, and liberation. It invites viewers to witness moments of vulnerability and strength, difficult discussions and it leads to questioning systems of domination, and to imagine, alongside its protagonists, a world grounded in equality and freedom.
Before listening to this episode, we recommend watching Girls and Gods currently showing in Austrian cinemas and at selected festivals.
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#9 Episode: Conversation with Inna Shevchenko on “Girls and Gods”
This film talk was recorded in English.
On the occasion of the Austrian premiere of Girls and Gods, we met with filmmaker and activist Inna Shevchenko to talk about her first work as a filmmaker/screenwriter - behind and in front of the camera. The film is directed by Arash T. Riahi and Verena Soltiz. It follows Inna while she meets with different women and their spiritual, political, and bodily quests for freedom, intertwining activism, trauma, and transcendence in a cinematic discussion on what it means to live and resist in a patriarchal world in the context of the three monotheistic religions.
In our conversation, Inna speaks about her approach to filmmaking and her process of shaping a constructive dialogue even when opinions were opposing each other, she also talks about the process of selecting the women and initiatives who appear in Girls and Gods. Inna also reflects on the difficult task of shaping the film’s many-hours raw version into its final, concentrated form and how editing became an act of both letting go and sharpening political meaning to find the right balance. We also discuss what her wishes for activism are and why she feels the discussion of religious tradition and practices is essential to feminism. Inna also reflects on the role of cinema and how it can become a tool for collective empowerment and spiritual rebellion.
Girls and Gods is a radical and challenging exploration of womanhood, belief, and liberation. It invites viewers to witness moments of vulnerability and strength, difficult discussions and it leads to questioning systems of domination, and to imagine, alongside its protagonists, a world grounded in equality and freedom.
Before listening to this episode, we recommend watching Girls and Gods currently showing in Austrian cinemas and at selected festivals.
Exoticism and Escapism! Class, Coloniality and Gendered Tourism
Ned Wuascht
1 hour 4 minutes 25 seconds
6 months ago
Exoticism and Escapism! Class, Coloniality and Gendered Tourism
This time it's all about westerner's all-inclusive getaways—and the ideological baggage the characters as well as the viewers bring with them. But does anybody care about the places they visit and the workers?
In our third English podcast episode, we travel to The White Lotus Season 3 (US 2025) and revisit the early-2000s Austrian cult comedy Poppitz (AT 2002), each set in a more or less luxury holiday resort, each revealing just as much about its vacationers as it does about the place and the viewer it/him/her/*self. But what exactly lies beneath the beach towels and palm trees? With a focus on gender, whiteness, and class, we unpack the fantasies, projections, and power imbalances embedded in these two very different, yet surprisingly resonant, resort narratives.
Our analysis builds on diverse-feminist film readings and digs into how The White Lotus and Poppitz render masculinity in crisis, exoticize their local contexts, and reproduce—or subtly question—privileged perspectives.
Key questions in this episode include: What does it mean when white, Western characters escape to the Global South—or to a fictional place similar to Tunisia, in the Austrian imagination? What labor remains invisible in these glossy resorts, and who is allowed to desire, to complain, to act out?
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We are sorry for the bad sound quality of Bianca's track!
Ned Wuascht
#9 Episode: Conversation with Inna Shevchenko on “Girls and Gods”
This film talk was recorded in English.
On the occasion of the Austrian premiere of Girls and Gods, we met with filmmaker and activist Inna Shevchenko to talk about her first work as a filmmaker/screenwriter - behind and in front of the camera. The film is directed by Arash T. Riahi and Verena Soltiz. It follows Inna while she meets with different women and their spiritual, political, and bodily quests for freedom, intertwining activism, trauma, and transcendence in a cinematic discussion on what it means to live and resist in a patriarchal world in the context of the three monotheistic religions.
In our conversation, Inna speaks about her approach to filmmaking and her process of shaping a constructive dialogue even when opinions were opposing each other, she also talks about the process of selecting the women and initiatives who appear in Girls and Gods. Inna also reflects on the difficult task of shaping the film’s many-hours raw version into its final, concentrated form and how editing became an act of both letting go and sharpening political meaning to find the right balance. We also discuss what her wishes for activism are and why she feels the discussion of religious tradition and practices is essential to feminism. Inna also reflects on the role of cinema and how it can become a tool for collective empowerment and spiritual rebellion.
Girls and Gods is a radical and challenging exploration of womanhood, belief, and liberation. It invites viewers to witness moments of vulnerability and strength, difficult discussions and it leads to questioning systems of domination, and to imagine, alongside its protagonists, a world grounded in equality and freedom.
Before listening to this episode, we recommend watching Girls and Gods currently showing in Austrian cinemas and at selected festivals.
