MIFF 2018 - Day 7

A Woman Captured

A woman, Eta, brags that she has servants and doesn't have to work. Intrigued, the film maker asks if she can document this. And thus we're introduced to Marish, who isn't a servant, but actually a slave. She works at a factory but Eta takes her wages. She cooks and cares for the family. And surprisingly, over one and a half years, they film. Eventually Marish develops a plan to escape. The film never fully explains how Marish ended up in slavery, but it does highlight how society is ill equipped to deal with it. Social services don't exist and the police admit they know but are unable to do anything stop it. It's estimated about 22,000 people in Hungary are held in slavery, with up to 1.5 million across Europe. This film gives an extreme close up on the whole awful thing.

Yellow Is Forbidden

A fly on the wall doco following Gao Pei's quest to become a member of the haute cotoure commission in France. Or I think that's what it's about. It's a bit unfocused. But always interesting and full of weird and ostentatious fashions.

Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist

A short and punchy doco about Vivienne Westwood that is more about life after punk. And the more you watch, the more sense it makes. She's one of the sharpest minds around, and highly aware of the failures of punk as a social movement. To leave her defined by a moment she rejects would be a disservice her. This is a great antidote to your misconceptions.