What did Swiss filmmaker Petra Volpe say that made me laugh so hard that I almost peed my pants in front of a full auditorium? I can’t remember.
I just know that in a weekend full of superlative moments, my Q&A with Petra after our FF2 Media-sponsored screening of The Divine Order (see featured photo above) was a peek experience!
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Note that FF2 has been covering Petra Volpe since she won the prestigious Nora Ephron Award at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival. In the words of FF2’s Nora Lee Mandel:
“Petra Biondina Volpe from Switzerland is the winner of the 5th annual Nora Ephron Prize at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival! Volpe is the writer/director of The Divine Order (Die Göttliche Ordnung), which also received the Audience Award in the ‘Narrative’ category, as well as a nomination for the Jury Award for Best International Narrative Feature. In addition, Marie Leuenberger – who stars as ‘Nora’ — was named ‘Best Actress in an International Narrative Feature.'”
(Click HERE for Nora’s complete coverage.)
No surprise, then, that we were finally able to see The Divine Order because fabulous Melissa Silverstein added it to her 2018 Athena Film Festival slate. And as soon as I knew, I told Melissa THIS is the film FF2 wants to sponsor in 2018!
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Thankfully, The Divine Order also has a theatrical release planned, with screenings scheduled across the USA. So sometime soon, you will be able to see it too.
Meanwhile, here’s a snippet from Leslie Coffin’s TFF (Tribeca Film Festival) interview with Petra to wet your appetite:
“I wanted to have a woman at the center who would go through a real journey and discover how much the private is political. I wanted to focus on a working-class woman and not have an intellectual… I found in the women’s archive a note on one of the propaganda leaflets by a woman who wrote she couldn’t understand why women are fighting against other women’s right to vote and it made her angry. She’d never been a political person but felt she needed to become one. And that touched me. That’s who the Nora character is based on.”
(Click HERE to read Leslie’s full TFF interview.)
OCTOBER ’18 UPDATE: MANHATTAN
The Divine Order is now playing at Manhattan’s Film Forum! FF2’s Roza Melkumyan says:
“Inspiring, and at times rather funny, The Divine Order reminds women of how far we’ve come and far we must still go. Its characters band together, united under the cause of women’s rights, and leave the women in the audience feeling both empowered and aware of the obstacles still left to face.”
(Click HERE to read Roza’s full review.)
NOVEMBER ’18 UPDATE: CHICAGO
The Divine Order is now playing at Chicago’s Gene Siskel Film Center! When FF2’s Stephanie Taylor asked her how it was going, Petra said this:
“People don’t know about these great stories that women have to tell, and all the other ways they contributed to the world. So actually, the film had quite an impact.”
(Click HERE to read Stephanie’s full interview.)
PHOTO CREDITS
Featured Photo: The photo of me with Petra Volpe was taken by the AFF ’18 PR team.
Middle Photo: The photo of me holding FF2 Team Passes was taken by a kind passerby.
Bottom Photo: The photo of members of the FF2 Media team (plus guests) was taken by my proud hubby Rich Miller immediately after The Divine Order Q&A.
FF2 Media Team Photo (Clockwise from the top): Me, Valerie Complex (my friend from NYFCO = NY Film Critics Online), Erika Howard (my friend from NYWIFT = NY Women in Film & TV), Farah Elattar (FF2 2018 Intern from Rutgers University), Kimi Kay Kumar (FF2 2016 Intern from Hunter College), Amelie Lasker (FF2 2016-2018 Intern from Columbia University), Julia Lasker (FF2 2018 Intern from Barnard College), & Kathy Cutler (FF2 2018 Intern from Pratt University).
