WCFF 2022 Best of the Fest

The Art of Oppression

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hree female artists are given three weeks to each create a work of art during lockdown. 

The women are culturally diverse and use their art to speak of marginalisation and injustice. 

Voice is important in this film. The director gives volume and primacy to the women’s lived experiences and to what they reveal in the process of creating their art. 


'The Art of Oppression' brings together in the one filmic space a British-Pakistani poet, a British-Caribbean visual artist and a sculptor who was a child during the Yugoslavian civil war and speaks of loss and of homeland. Their words are powerful, their stories emotional; whilst culturally different their experiences of injustice are just as injurious. 

The film’s narrative is paced, subtly balancing the agency of women's voices with the gradual unveiling of the women themselves and then revealing their art. 


The directors' desire to not speak for the women, but to 'speak nearby’ them - Trinh T. Minh-Ha filmmaker and academic has influence here. 


As a Black British filmmaker the director plays with documentary convention in order to ensure she is also positioned within the film context without distracting from the women or their stories. This is her response to unmuting the Black female voice, and to an industry where Black women directors are still under-represented. 

  • Year
    2021
  • Runtime
    42 minutes
  • Language
    English
  • Country
    United Kingdom
  • Social Media
  • Director
    Patricia Francis
  • Producer
    Patricia Francis