GAEA GIRLS

(Kim Longinotto and Jano Williams / UK / 2000 / 106 min)
18 November 2016. 6:50PM Studio Space, Byre Theatre, Abbey St, St Andrews KY16 9LA.

The screening will be introduced by Dr. Mattia Fumanti, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Saint Andrews.

Organised by Film Festival Ambassador Angelica Cabezas Pino in collaboration with St Andrew’s Film Society The Film Society and University of St Andrews Anthropology Society.

A film about courage, transformation and dreams in the extraordinary world of Japanese women's wrestling. Gaea Girls focuses on the hopes and fears of the beleaguered Gaea Japan squad, whose reputation hangs by a thread after a series of setbacks in the ring. There is the spindly 16-year old who spent three years persuading her parents to let her join, the new recruit who ran away but has returned begging for a second chance, and the rookie desperate to make her debut in the ring. At the centre of the film is the tough but popular trainer who - with her own very particular philosophy and personal history - rules the girls, trying to fashion them in her own image.

Part of the Film Festival Ambassador series.  Thanks to our dedicated RAI Film Festival Ambassadors, a selection of films from the RAI Film Festival Archive will be screening in universities and community venues across the UK between November 2016 and March 2017.