Movies
by Polina Brazhnikova
BLACK SOIL, short movie
Black Soil is my graduation project from the International Film Program of Stockholm Film School. Currently touring and screening at international film festivals around the world.
HOW TO BECOME A RAPIST IN 6 STEPS, short movie
"How to become a rapist in 6 steps" is a short film about sexual violence and harassment among teenagers and young people. This work is a contribution to the discussion of stigmatization of sexual violence survivors and insufficient or absent sex education in schools.
Adolescent sexual aggression against other children is a consequence of absent or insufficient sex education for adolescents. Girls and boys do not receive information about norms of physical interaction such as active consent and safety of contact, which leads to the fact that children grow up without understanding the importance of these norms.
Proper sex education for adolescents can also be extremely helpful in reducing the stigma attached to survivors of harassment and sexual violence, and will give survivors more confidence to contact the police and share the information about aggression with their family and friends.
Talking about sex is ok. It is not ok to remove responsibility from the aggressors and normalize rape by blaming the survivors of sexual violence and harassment.
This fact became the slogan of the film: "It is the rapist who makes the choice to take away the victim's right to choose."
At the end of the video, you can find contacts of psychological, legal and other support for victims. Get help, don't be left alone with what happened to you.
Thanks for watching and reposting the video.
ROMANTICIZING ROMANCE
Today, November 25, 2023 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls, and on this day I am sharing with you my new video work, on which my poem “Romanticizing a Romance” is superimposed.
The poem “Romanticizing a Romance” is a story about physical violence in interpersonal relationships and the feelings and thoughts of a person who is a victim of an aggressor. The ambiguity of the words correlates with the ambiguity of the video sequence, where the girl tries to tell the story of what is happening to her behind closed doors. The viewer can see how confused the heroine is and how confused her own thoughts are.
This work aims to draw attention to the complex problem of domestic violence in Ukrainian society.
According to an all-Ukrainian survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology at the request of the European Union Advisory Mission to Ukraine, domestic violence is a particular problem for 72% of respondents.
Source: https://kiis.com.ua/materials/pr/20231026_r/AReport_PublicSurvey_EUAM_sept2023_ukr_public.pdf
The issue of reducing domestic violence includes many factors, one of which is shown in this work - the unbalanced psychological state of women in abusive relationships. This prevents them from breaking the cycle of violence and pushing the abuser out of their lives, as well as possible financial dependence on him.
The perception of reality in such people is often distorted, self-esteem is underestimated, and the psychological ability to cope with the challenges that arise on the path of life is weak. Women may feel trapped and unworthy of having a better life.
However, we should not remain indifferent to this problem and should continue to educate women about the possibilities of improving their lives by breaking the cycle of violence.
Victims of domestic violence should leave relationships in which their human dignity is humiliated as soon as possible and, if possible, seek help from the police, social services, and other competent authorities. The aggressor should be punished.