CALAMITY, A CHILDHOOD OF MARTHA JANE CANNARY
Wednesday April 28th 2021, 12:01 am - Sunday, May 2nd @ 11:59 pm
Film Details
Runtime: 85 mins
Language: French w/ English Subtitles
Director: Rémi Chayé
Country: France, 2020
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Western
SOUTHEAST PREMIERE
The great American frontierswoman Calamity Jane, renowned for her sharp-shooting skills, daredevil nature and rejection of gender norms, has been immortalized in popular culture for decades. But before she travelled to Deadwood to become a legend, she was a high-spirited 12-year-old girl named Martha, and this exciting family-friendly adventure tells her story. As she travels across the US frontier on a wagon train, young Martha Jane Cannary astonishes her fellow travelers when she breaks gender norms to lead her family’s covered wagon and take care of the horses. While she never felt more free, this brazen act brings scorn and anger from her community. Accused of stealing, Martha Jane strikes out on her own and tries to vindicate herself under a newly minted name, Calamity Jane. Her adventures on the open frontier where men and women pioneers strive to build better lives shapes Calamity Jane into one of the legendary figures of the Wild West. Calamity is a beautifully rendered, animated, feminist retelling which shows how young Martha Jane Cannary fought against a sexist and male-dominated society to become an iconic frontierswoman.
OUT OF THE BOX: Different Thinking Films For Different Thinking People - Out of the Box is a showcase of films we feel have a place in the festival without being outright LGBTQ+ films - strong and central characters, themes of major interest to our community or horror or cult films that are not often included in LGBTQ+ festivals. This Out Of The Box film leans more to the feminist and girls-can-do-anything-boys-can-do storyline. While not outwardly Lesbian, we love the fierceness of the main character, a young Calamity Jane who refuses to be held down. She wears pants, learns to drive the stagecoach and shoot a gun, and becomes a strong woman at a very young age. And while most agree that Calamity Janes was a lesbian, or at least bisexual, the film focuses on her becoming the frontierswoman she has become known as and paving the way for girls to be fierce, independent and bad-ass!
The great American frontierswoman Calamity Jane, renowned for her sharp-shooting skills, daredevil nature and rejection of gender norms, has been immortalized in popular culture for decades. But before she travelled to Deadwood to become a legend, she was a high-spirited 12-year-old girl named Martha, and this exciting family-friendly adventure tells her story. As she travels across the US frontier on a wagon train, young Martha Jane Cannary astonishes her fellow travelers when she breaks gender norms to lead her family’s covered wagon and take care of the horses. While she never felt more free, this brazen act brings scorn and anger from her community. Accused of stealing, Martha Jane strikes out on her own and tries to vindicate herself under a newly minted name, Calamity Jane. Her adventures on the open frontier where men and women pioneers strive to build better lives shapes Calamity Jane into one of the legendary figures of the Wild West. Calamity is a beautifully rendered, animated, feminist retelling which shows how young Martha Jane Cannary fought against a sexist and male-dominated society to become an iconic frontierswoman.
OUT OF THE BOX: Different Thinking Films For Different Thinking People - Out of the Box is a showcase of films we feel have a place in the festival without being outright LGBTQ+ films - strong and central characters, themes of major interest to our community or horror or cult films that are not often included in LGBTQ+ festivals. This Out Of The Box film leans more to the feminist and girls-can-do-anything-boys-can-do storyline. While not outwardly Lesbian, we love the fierceness of the main character, a young Calamity Jane who refuses to be held down. She wears pants, learns to drive the stagecoach and shoot a gun, and becomes a strong woman at a very young age. And while most agree that Calamity Janes was a lesbian, or at least bisexual, the film focuses on her becoming the frontierswoman she has become known as and paving the way for girls to be fierce, independent and bad-ass!
