"Miss Landmine" is a voyage in the lives of women who saw their existences and hopes shattered in an instant. More importantly, it is an ode to peace and to the profound beauty that resides in each and every one of us. It is an optimistic cry to the world, which transcends the boundaries of conventional beauty and denounces the barbarity of humankind. Feingold's reportage combines humor and compassion to uncover a controversial yet laudable mission and to usher collective action in the hope that, one day, as one of the pageant's participants says, we will collaborate with one another to "make peace grow like a flower."
More here:
http://www.dailycal.org/article/110762/sf_docfest
and here:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/greater_vancouver/northshoreoutlook/entertainment/104871304.html
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www.traavik.info
www.miss-landmine.org
www.facebook.com/freemisslandminecambodia
www.tynset.fm
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MISS LANDMINE, DIR. Stan Feingold
The Daily Californian
Directed by Stan Feingold, "Miss Landmine" crafts a poetic vision of the persistent repercussions of warfare and more specifically of the ongoing pain that travels through life with victims of landmines. It is not just about the misfortune of stepping on the wrong land at the wrong moment. Rather, it is about facing the aftermath of a tragic instant and confronting everlasting discrimination.
The documentary explores the development of the Miss Landmine Project, a beauty pageant for women who were amputated after landmine explosions. Some people may find such a project to be yet another disdainful, objectifying scheme against women. The Cambodian government sure seems to agree, barring the project from further advances. Yet, the essence of this expedition is quite the opposite and strives to push people to redefine their perception of beauty. Morten Traavik, the creator of the project, simply summarizes the dominant beauty standards that the Miss Landmine Project tries to dispel by paraphrasing George Orwell: "Two legs, good. One leg, bad."
"Miss Landmine" is a voyage in the lives of women who saw their existences and hopes shattered in an instant. More importantly, it is an ode to peace and to the profound beauty that resides in each and every one of us. It is an optimistic cry to the world, which transcends the boundaries of conventional beauty and denounces the barbarity of humankind. Feingold's reportage combines humor and compassion to uncover a controversial yet laudable mission and to usher collective action in the hope that, one day, as one of the pageant's participants says, we will collaborate with one another to "make peace grow like a flower."
-Charlene Petitjean
-----------------------------
By Greg Hoekstra - North Shore Outlook
Published: October 13, 2010
In the opening scene of Stan Feingold’s new documentary, Miss Landmine, a woman stands in the seaside paradise of Kep, Cambodia, with a sparkling tiara resting on her crown.
As waves gently lap against the sandy shoreline, the woman smiles awkwardly and poses for a series of glamour shots taken by a professional photographer.
Click. Click. Click.
Dangling from the woman’s right hand is a large silver disco ball that glimmers when it catches a ray of sunlight. But it’s the left sleeve of the woman’s white dress shirt that draws the most attention — hanging flat and empty, with no arm to fill it.
It’s then that the viewer realizes the woman in the spotlight is one of tens of thousands of amputees in Cambodia — a victim of the estimated 4 million landmines that litter the countryside.
So when Feingold — an award-winning North Vancouver filmmaker — first heard about the Miss Landmine beauty pageant, he knew immediately that it would make a great documentary.
“It’s a search for beauty in a dire social environment,” says Feingold. “In many ways that’s what my films tend to gravitate toward ... it’s about those that have been labelled rejects in their society, it’s about that flower that grows through the rubble.”
The film, which premiers this weekend at the San Francisco Documentary Film Festival, chronicles artist Morten Traavik’s attempts to stage a controversial beauty pageant for landmine survivors in Cambodia.
Over the course of a year, Feingold and his cinematographer, Brian Johnson, followed Traavik’s travels through the country as he recruited participants from each of the country’s 20 provinces.
Eventually, the pageant is outlawed by the Cambodian government for “causing shame to the Cambodian people,” but the cameras keep rolling, and the pageant continues both online and overseas.
The film culminates with a risky journey back over the Cambodian border to crown the winner with her grand prize — a $20,000 prosthetic leg made from titanium.
As a filmmaker, Feingold is no stranger to controversial subjects. In 2004 he directed the Gemini award-winning film Prisoners of Age, a documentary that examined the self-described “garbage of society” — geriatric convicts — and the often grim circumstances they face as their lives come to an end in prison.
A few years earlier, in 2001, he won an Emmy for his film Heroines, which used music, poetry and photography to illustrate the lives of women trying to survive in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Even still, Feingold admits he was a little taken aback when Miss Landmine generated a slew of hateful, fiery messages online — mostly on feminist blogs and websites.
Some detractors argued that the pageant was sexist in nature, while others accused Traavik and the film crew of being exploitative white colonialists.
Some even went so far as to suggest the pageant sexualized the prosthetic limbs, making Feingold’s film a piece of amputee porn.
“I’ve heard it all, but I still truly believe it’s a noble effort,” says Feingold. “It meant so much to these people to have someone come and say ‘you’re beautiful.’ It made a huge difference in their lives.”
Feingold says he also hopes people won’t avoid seeing the film based on any presumptions.
“I think sometimes people hear about the pageant and their initial reaction is ‘that must be disgusting,’” he says. “I would encourage people to keep an open mind and watch it. It’s actually a movie full of contrast, irony, and beauty.”
This Saturday, Oct. 16, Feingold will fly to San Francisco to attend the film’s world premier. The following week he’ll fly to Norway to screen the documentary at the prestigious Bergen International Film Festival.
Canadian viewers will get their first chance to see the film when it premiers on Canadian television on November 22 at 6 p.m. on the CBC’s documentary channel.
For more on the Miss Landmine Pageant, visit www.miss-landmine.org.
Directed by Stan Feingold, "Miss Landmine" crafts a poetic vision of the persistent repercussions of warfare and more specifically of the ongoing pain that travels through life with victims of landmines. It is not just about the misfortune of stepping on the wrong land at the wrong moment. Rather, it is about facing the aftermath of a tragic instant and confronting everlasting discrimination.
The documentary explores the development of the Miss Landmine Project, a beauty pageant for women who were amputated after landmine explosions. Some people may find such a project to be yet another disdainful, objectifying scheme against women. The Cambodian government sure seems to agree, barring the project from further advances. Yet, the essence of this expedition is quite the opposite and strives to push people to redefine their perception of beauty. Morten Traavik, the creator of the project, simply summarizes the dominant beauty standards that the Miss Landmine Project tries to dispel by paraphrasing George Orwell: "Two legs, good. One leg, bad."
"Miss Landmine" is a voyage in the lives of women who saw their existences and hopes shattered in an instant. More importantly, it is an ode to peace and to the profound beauty that resides in each and every one of us. It is an optimistic cry to the world, which transcends the boundaries of conventional beauty and denounces the barbarity of humankind. Feingold's reportage combines humor and compassion to uncover a controversial yet laudable mission and to usher collective action in the hope that, one day, as one of the pageant's participants says, we will collaborate with one another to "make peace grow like a flower."
-Charlene Petitjean
-----------------------------
By Greg Hoekstra - North Shore Outlook
Published: October 13, 2010
In the opening scene of Stan Feingold’s new documentary, Miss Landmine, a woman stands in the seaside paradise of Kep, Cambodia, with a sparkling tiara resting on her crown.
As waves gently lap against the sandy shoreline, the woman smiles awkwardly and poses for a series of glamour shots taken by a professional photographer.
Click. Click. Click.
Dangling from the woman’s right hand is a large silver disco ball that glimmers when it catches a ray of sunlight. But it’s the left sleeve of the woman’s white dress shirt that draws the most attention — hanging flat and empty, with no arm to fill it.
It’s then that the viewer realizes the woman in the spotlight is one of tens of thousands of amputees in Cambodia — a victim of the estimated 4 million landmines that litter the countryside.
So when Feingold — an award-winning North Vancouver filmmaker — first heard about the Miss Landmine beauty pageant, he knew immediately that it would make a great documentary.
“It’s a search for beauty in a dire social environment,” says Feingold. “In many ways that’s what my films tend to gravitate toward ... it’s about those that have been labelled rejects in their society, it’s about that flower that grows through the rubble.”
The film, which premiers this weekend at the San Francisco Documentary Film Festival, chronicles artist Morten Traavik’s attempts to stage a controversial beauty pageant for landmine survivors in Cambodia.
Over the course of a year, Feingold and his cinematographer, Brian Johnson, followed Traavik’s travels through the country as he recruited participants from each of the country’s 20 provinces.
Eventually, the pageant is outlawed by the Cambodian government for “causing shame to the Cambodian people,” but the cameras keep rolling, and the pageant continues both online and overseas.
The film culminates with a risky journey back over the Cambodian border to crown the winner with her grand prize — a $20,000 prosthetic leg made from titanium.
As a filmmaker, Feingold is no stranger to controversial subjects. In 2004 he directed the Gemini award-winning film Prisoners of Age, a documentary that examined the self-described “garbage of society” — geriatric convicts — and the often grim circumstances they face as their lives come to an end in prison.
A few years earlier, in 2001, he won an Emmy for his film Heroines, which used music, poetry and photography to illustrate the lives of women trying to survive in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Even still, Feingold admits he was a little taken aback when Miss Landmine generated a slew of hateful, fiery messages online — mostly on feminist blogs and websites.
Some detractors argued that the pageant was sexist in nature, while others accused Traavik and the film crew of being exploitative white colonialists.
Some even went so far as to suggest the pageant sexualized the prosthetic limbs, making Feingold’s film a piece of amputee porn.
“I’ve heard it all, but I still truly believe it’s a noble effort,” says Feingold. “It meant so much to these people to have someone come and say ‘you’re beautiful.’ It made a huge difference in their lives.”
Feingold says he also hopes people won’t avoid seeing the film based on any presumptions.
“I think sometimes people hear about the pageant and their initial reaction is ‘that must be disgusting,’” he says. “I would encourage people to keep an open mind and watch it. It’s actually a movie full of contrast, irony, and beauty.”
This Saturday, Oct. 16, Feingold will fly to San Francisco to attend the film’s world premier. The following week he’ll fly to Norway to screen the documentary at the prestigious Bergen International Film Festival.
Canadian viewers will get their first chance to see the film when it premiers on Canadian television on November 22 at 6 p.m. on the CBC’s documentary channel.
For more on the Miss Landmine Pageant, visit www.miss-landmine.org.
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