Portrait de la jeune fille en feu + introduction

Céline Sciamma’s sumptuously beautiful Cannes prize-winner is one of cinema’s most compelling visions of the power of desire. Set in late 18th century France, painter Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is commissioned by an affluent countess to paint the wedding portrait of her sheltered daughter Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) so she can be appraised by a suitor across the sea. 

Completing the portrait in secret, observing the resistant Héloïse by day and painting her by night, the two women grow closer. Their intimacy and attraction begins to blossom into a profoundly charged romance. 

Seductive, devastating and irresistibly beautiful, this period piece with a distinctly modern feminist sensibility sees Sciamma (Tomboy, Girlhood) take her place as one of her generation’s finest filmmakers. 

Introduction: 
Midwife Madyasa Vijber and philosopher and midwife Rodante van der Waal will provide the introduction to this screening. From a feminist and decolonial standpoint they’ll discuss themes such as the history of midwifery and reproductive justice, in response to the small yet memorable role of the midwife in the film. 

About Madyasa Vijber: 
Madyasa Vijber (she/her) works as a caseload midwife in Rotterdam. She obtained her Bachelor's degree in Midwifery at the Midwifery Academy Amsterdam. In her work, self-determination, anti-racism, and radical care are important concepts, and she is continuously exploring how care work can be shaped in a sustainable, reciprocal, and humane way. In addition to her work as a midwife, she is the founder of the Ujamaa collective for black birth workers and a member of the Critical Midwifery Studies Collective, an international collective of midwives, doulas, activists, and academics that provides a critical analysis of maternity care. For Madyasa, birth work is inherently activist because giving birth cannot be separated from the politics that strongly influence the process. Visit her website at www.vroedvrouwmadyasa.nl. 

About Rodante van der Waal: 
Rodante van der Waal (she/they, 1992) is a PhD-candidate and lecturer in Care Ethics at the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrecht, and an independent midwife in Amsterdam. She has a BA in midwifery, and a BA and MA in Philosophy (cum laude) from the University of Amsterdam. Her research focus is on obstetric violence and reproductive justice from feminist, decolonial, abolitionist, and care studies perspectives. Papers from her hand have been published in Agenda, Feminist Anthropology, Birth, and Nursing Ethics. She is a member of the Critical Midwifery Studies Collective, het vroede geluid and the Abortion Network Amsterdam, and the editor of Contractions.