Stuntwomen
Cascadeuses
2024 NOMINEE - BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
2022
Switzerland / United States / France
84 mins
English, French, Swiss German
North American Premiere
Documentary Film Competition
| Elena Avdija | |
| Agnieszka Ramu | |
Being thrown down a flight of stairs, hit by a car or beaten up is the everyday life for stuntwomen. We follow Virginie, Petra and Estelle during training sessions and on film sets in France and the US. What does all this pretend-violence do to their bodies and minds? There is always a trade-off between the desire to perform as realistically as possible and their own boundaries. Scenes with cars are spectacular, but the roles in which they are beaten up are much harder to watch. Few action movies have female heroes so they usually play the role of victims; stuntwomen are hired to endure violence, while the task of their male colleagues is to inflict it.
About the Director
Elena Avdija has a degree in Sociology from the EHESS in Paris, with a focus was on gender studies. She worked for several years as assistant director in documentaries, notably for Point du Jour in Paris where she developed screenplays for the historical documentary series ‘Arte’. She also directed two self-produced short documentaries. On her return to Switzerland, she began working as assistant director on fiction films. ‘Stuntwomen’ is her first documentary feature.
Reviews
Stuntwomen: The female action stars we don’t see – by Zakiya Rowe, Winter Film Awards
Interviews
Photos (Click on Photo to View)
