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“Artistically Reflecting on Women’s Rights Within Religion is an Act of Resistance Itself”: Arash T. Riahi and Verena Soltiz on Their CPH:DOX-Premiering Girls & Gods
Girls & Gods (Photo ©Golden Girls Film) Arash T. Riahi and Verena Soltiz’s Girls & Gods is a stylishly crafted philosophical investigation that addresses an intriguing question both timely and timeless: Can feminism and religion coexist? The brainchild of Inna Shevchenko of the Ukrainian collective FEMEN, also credited as writer, the doc takes us on a whirlwind tour throughout Europe (and NYC) with Shevchenko serving as our inquisitive guide, allowing us to listen in as she deeply converses, debates, and gathers wisdom from other women. And not just atheist activists like herself, fighting religion as a vestige of patriarchal oppression, but true believers: theologians, priests, imams and rabbis, all of whom are also activists, either defending religion as a feminist act or reforming it to better align with its original intent. In other words, Girls & Gods is an arthouse “debate film” in which the questioning, not any hard answers, is the point, as it should be with art and religion both.
To learn all about the globetrotting, eye-catching (and ear-catching, with Pussy Riot and Baby Volcano featured on the soundtrack) doc, Filmmaker reached out to the Austrian co-directors a few days before the film’s March 23rd premiere.
Filmmaker: Though the two of you have known each other for decades, I believe the idea for the doc actually originated with Inna, who has writing credit and brought the idea to Arash. So how do you know Inna and what was her original pitch? Did the concept change throughout the filmmaking process?
Riahi: I first met Inna in Paris in 2012, while we were shooting our film Everyday Rebellion about nonviolent forms of protest. Later, after she was forced to flee Ukraine for cutting down a large cross in the center of Kyiv, I met her again when she arrived in Poland during her escape. I followed her journey to France; she and the Femen movement became an important part of our film at that time.
Over the years we stayed in touch. One day Inna shared her idea for a project about women who were both believers and feminists. Although these women opposed Inna’s and FEMEN’s methods of protest, she wanted to connect with them and focus on their shared goal: transforming our patriarchal society from within. She believed that renewing monotheistic religions was a key step in this process.
After developing the project for some time, we eventually approached Verena, who we both knew, to join us in making the film together.
Soltiz: Yes, I’ve known Inna since 2013, when she was part of Arash’s doc Everyday Rebellion. I admired her work and fell in love with her endless humor. In 2018, when Inna approached me with the idea for Girls & Gods, I knew from the start that this film would be historically significant and bigger than us.
The questions she raises in the film were already in her original pitch. During the course of development we started to shape the structure, made adjustments during shooting, and finished the narrative in the edit.
Filmmaker: Verena has spoken of art having “visual opinions,” and indeed I was quite struck by the grand (loud) visual artistry, as well as the female empowerment soundtrack. So how exactly did your desire to craft a film through a “feminist lens” inform all these aesthetic choices? (As well as perhaps your collaborator choices, as other than Arash you seem to have worked with an all-female crew.)
Soltiz: Lovely to hear that the art resonated with you! Inna is an activist, therefore it was clear that our focus would be on the present rather than the past. So we sought out contemporary artists who actively contribute to our debate.
Feminist art emerged long before the late 1960s, yet female artists who critique women’s roles within religion remain rare – just a few dare to touch such a sensitive subject. When Ina Loitzl presented her tongue installation LINGUA – Speechless in the Klagenfurt Cathedral, she and the supporting priest, who aimed to strengthen the role of women in the church, were met with an online petition demanding its immediate removal. It was considered an insult to God. So artistically reflecting on women’s rights within religion is an act of resistance itself.
As we sadly saw in 2015 when Charlie Hebdo — where our protagonist, the cartoonist Coco, has worked and still works — was attacked. Twelve died and 11 were injured because their caricatures were seen as blasphemous.
Riahi: Since we knew that our film would be filled with energetic debates between strong opinionated women, we wanted the entire cinematic experience to be just as dynamic, lively and sensual. Incorporating feminist art and music was a natural choice — allowing the film to breathe and remain surprising, not only in content but also in form.
As for our team, it’s true that the majority of the crew members were women, but not all of them. We are not dogmatic about this. If we are making a film against rigid norms, we don’t need to create our own by insisting that a feminist film can only be made with an all-female crew! This film is about inclusion, not exclusion, and we took that principle seriously in our approach to working together.
Filmmaker: How did you select locations and characters to include in the film? Were there folks you reached out to that declined to participate? Did anyone end up on the cutting room floor?
Soltiz: Our characters led us to the locations we traveled to. Inna had already collected lots of contacts due to her work as an activist, author and journalist.
The project started in 2018, and during production new protagonists arose while others became inactive or did not want to be part of a film where, for example, nudity is displayed. We knew that we needed protagonists who could hold their own against Inna philosophically and argumentatively, so the preliminary research was very intense. What we did not expect was the massive difficulty we faced in finding churches, mosques or synagogues where we could film purely visual footage. This search turned out to be particularly challenging since many institutions were unwilling to engage with our topic.
Riahi: Of course not everyone we approached was able or willing to be part of our film, even though many shared our goal. They were simply too afraid of their communities to criticize them, or to participate in a film that, in part, also critiques their religion. Some even told us that they admire what we and the women in the film are doing but that they themselves are not ready — yet. They hope to reach that point one day.
In fact, we have a lot of fascinating material that didn’t make it into the film. We dream of finding partners —streaming platforms or TV networks — to collaborate with us and turn this into a five-part documentary series. So if anyone out there is interested, call us before we call you!
Filmmaker: Since Inna has referred to the doc as a “debate film” that was built as a “conversation” from start to finish, I’m guessing this applied to the production itself as well. So what were some of the biggest challenges you faced? Were they internal or external?
Soltiz: Inna was the initiator of this project, so we just gave her some minor direction before she entered the debates. The real challenge awaited us in the edit room, where we had to compose hours of debates into one narrative. We managed to avoid internal conflicts entirely by having very open and honest discussions, making a clear distinction between professional and personal matters. You have to draw a clear line between these two, otherwise the friendship and the collaboration are highly likely to suffer.
Riahi: The development process took quite a long time, partly due to Covid and the challenge of finding a co-producer outside Austria. Another major hurdle was the nature of our topic since many funding institutions tend to avoid anything that critiques religion, as it can seem controversial on paper. However, we knew from the start that our film was about building bridges, not walls. Giving up was never an option — we were passionate about making this film. Fortunately, we were able to bring our Swiss co-producers from AMKA Films onboard and successfully complete the financing.
Filmmaker: Ironically, and horrifically, Inna was actually a speaker at a debate on freedom of speech a decade ago in Copenhagen when a terrorist opened fire in the lobby of the venue. So is the festival taking any special precautions for your screenings this year?
Riahi: It’s truly ironic that Inna is returning with this film to the very city where, a decade ago, someone tried to kill her while she was attending a free speech conference. Of course the festival is well aware of the security challenges, and is handling them in cooperation with the appropriate authorities.
By the way, our last film Everyday Rebellion also premiered at CPH:DOX in 2013 and won the Audience Award. So once again we’re back in town. And we’re here to send a clear message to those who try to silence free thinkers: they will never succeed. They may be able to kill a person, but they will never kill the deeply human desire for freedom and equality.
