P.E.R.I.O.D. at Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin 2022

P.E.R.I.O.D. at Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin 2022

10 Oct 2022 | Menstruation, News

We had the pleasure to be screened at the 4th edition of Female Filmmakers Festival in Berlin on October 9th.

The annual five day film event features screenings of international short & feature films of all genres as well as a hand-picked selection of music videos, panels, networking sessions and more. – we read on Female Filmmakers Festival’s website.

It was a true pleasure to see so many wonderful films created by female filmmakers, meet inspiring people and get amazing feedback from the audience about P.E.R.I.O.D.

Photos below by Suza Schlecht ©

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In Solidarity with Iranian Women

In Solidarity with Iranian Women

30 Sep 2022 | Illustration, Women's Rights

In solidarity with people in Iran 💪🔥

On the situation in Iran from Amnesty International:
On 13 September 2022, Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini was arrested in Tehran by Iran’s so-called “morality” police. Eyewitnesses reported seeing her being violently beaten in a police van. Within hours, she was taken to hospital in a coma, and three days later the 22-year-old died.
The “morality” police routinely subject women and girls to arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment for not complying with Iran’s abusive, degrading and discriminatory compulsory veiling laws. Mahsa’s death sparked widespread protests across Iran. The protests have been met with a deadly crackdown. Security forces have repeatedly used unlawful force. They have fired live ammunition and metal pellets at protesters at close range, misused tear gas and water cannons, and severely beaten people with batons.

Since Mahsa’s death, we have recorded the deaths of dozens of men, women and children. Hundreds of others have sustained painful and serious injuries, including at least two who have been blinded in one or both eyes. Most are not seeking hospital treatment for fear of arrest, increasing the risk of infection and other health complications. Iranian authorities are shutting down the Internet to hide their crimes.
Right now, there is a crisis of impunity in Iran, and it has emboldened the Iranian authorities to kill hundreds of protesters and torture and ill-treat thousands more in recent years without fear of consequences. It is time for states engaging at the UN Human Rights Council to help tackle impunity for grave crimes in Iran.

Download poster in A4 (210x297mm)

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I got selected for Women Photograph

I got selected for Women Photograph

9 Aug 2022 | ABC of Berlin Boudoir, News, Photography

Back in Berlin, gathering all the memories from wonderful time spent close to nature. I feel like for the first time in my life I connected with nature so much – I used to take the trees, grass, animals around us for granted, moving on to focus on man-made art, architecture and culture. Now I’m going back to the roots.
I’m very happy to be back in Berlin, and very grateful this city is so close to wonderful lakes and forests. And even within the city we have gorgeous parks and green areas.

I feel like I’m starting a new chapter, and very excited that it aligns with being accepted as a part of Women Photograph – worldwide platform for female and non-binary photographers, making it possible to discover the world from a different viewpoint.

According to their data from the first quarter of 2022 New York Times had only 21.7% photographs by women, The Wallstreet Journal 7.2%, Washington Post 19.8% and The Guardian 7.8%. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done and thank you Daniella Zalcman, Mallory Benedict, Sara Ickow, Vi Nguyen and all the Women Photograph Team for making the change happen!

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P.E.R.I.O.D. awarded at Toronto International Women’s Film Festival Summer 2022

P.E.R.I.O.D. awarded at Toronto International Women’s Film Festival Summer 2022

26 Jul 2022 | Menstruation, News

Toronto International Women’s Film Festival awarded P.E.R.I.O.D. in the category “Best Music Video” in their Summer 2022 edition. The festival is sponsored by Toronto Film Magazine and Toronto Film Channel in Canada.
Women are involved in the film industry in all roles, including as film directors, actresses, cinematographers, film producers, film critics, and other film industry professions, though women have been underrepresented in creative positions. – we read on Toronto Film Magazine Website.

Very happy to present P.E.R.I.O.D. in front of international audience. Hoping it will be seen on many screens around the world!

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Rethinking Sex

Rethinking Sex

24 Jul 2022 | Boudoir Stories, Sex & Senses

In her book “Rethinking sex” Christine Emba brings up these stories of sexual encounters:

Have you experienced any of these:
“1. Thinking that we should be having sex, even when we don’t really desire it, because that’s the impression society gives us – and thus seeing ourselves as incomplete, abnormal, or fallen behind if we aren’t doing it, even when we’re nothing of the sort.

2. Having sex we don’t really want for reasons that we don’t fully agree with far more often than we would like- but also thinking that’s just how it goes, and that it would be unreasonable to ask for more.

3. Feeling jaded and discouraged by the romantic landscape, its lack of trust, emotion, and commitment – but also feeling as though other options aren’t reachable or even realistic.

4. Experiencing too much of the kind of sex that saps the spirit and makes us feel less human, not more – sex that leaves us detached, disillusioned, or just dissatisfied.

5. Knowing that something in our sex and dating culture is somehow off and wishing that things were different – even if we don’t know exactly why we feel this way or how to make the shift to something better.”

I highly recommend Christine Emba’s book (buy it here) – a great start for an important discussion we should all have.

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Girl Moss

Girl Moss

12 Jul 2022 | Inspiration, Photography

Inspired by the quote from Daisy Alioto “The girl boss is dead, long live the girl moss (lying on the floor of the forest and being absorbed back to nature).”

I think there’s been enough praising for pushing it through, leaning in and striving to become the most “successful” person in business. Don’t get me wrong – you do you, I’m not trying to discourage anyone from pursuing their dreams. But… didn’t we all get too much caught up in understanding success in close relation to our professional life?

When I have a speech about my f•ckup at Berlin Boss Babes event in April, I thought about the moment when I realized I don’t need to have it all at once: I can have my day job, that pays my bills, and do Berlin Boudoir on the side to fulfill my passion. Separating them gives me freedom and control, unlike when I was trying to combine making money from my passion and I ended up on the verge of burnout

At the moment I’m in upstate New York – small town where seemingly nothing happens, no tourist attractions. The old me would feel weird experiencing so little stimulations from the outside world. The girl boss in me would feel like I’m wasting my time 2.5h drive away from the center of New York City. But I let the girl boss in – and she’s so happy to learn the slow rhythm of nature, notice things that disappear in the bustling reality of any city.

I was always a city girl, but now I’m easing into the realization that I’m a moss girl too. And that time to slow down and unwind is priceless. I feel that as humans we have so much to learn from nature, in the end – we’re a part of it, however hard we worked to shift the focus elsewhere.

How do you feel about the girl boss / girl moss statement? Share with me in comments

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We’re the granddaughters of the witches you weren’t able to burn

We’re the granddaughters of the witches you weren’t able to burn

26 Jun 2022 | Inspiration, Menstruation, News, Photography, Women's Rights

On Friday June 24 2022 the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, the landmark ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion.

I’m reading a wonderful book by Silvia Federici Witches, Witch-Hunting, and Women. She writes: “the restriction of women’s sexuality to marriage and procreation, together with wifely unconditional obedience, was instituted in every country – regardless of its religious creed – as the pillar of social morality and political stability. And, indeed, of no crime were ‘witches’ as frequently accused as ‘lewd behavior’, generally associated with infanticide and inherent hostility to the reproduction of life.”

We’re going to fight, you can’t burn us all 🔥

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Miracle of Life

Miracle of Life

23 Jun 2022 | Inspiration, Photography

I‘m a bit more quiet lately, taking my time to enjoy the nature and wild creatures surrounding me in upstate New York, where I‘m visiting my boyfriend‘s family. It‘s a true cuteness overload: squirrels, chipmunks, bunnies, humming birds, fireflies and – top it up – baby deer with mom. We called it Jewel, to not be gender presumptuous. But today it turned out that there are actually two fawns, not one. And we saw both of them in our garden. Looking through the window at one of the fawns sucking mom‘s udders, it made me wonder how incredible this miracle of life is. How does the fawn know right after its born that mom can provide food?

Observing their daily routines of the mama deer leaving the fawn for the day to hide (as it‘s not big and strong enough to follow its mom, and to distract potential predators from where it‘s hiding), then reuniting in the evening to spend the night together. Seeing how mama deer is calm, yet alert, and sometimes seems a bit annoyed /impatient, and how the fawn is full of energy, running around just for the sake of it, curious and carefree. I think that we‘re all so close to each other – deer, humans, bunnies… They learned to live with us, accepted our weird ways. Now it‘s time for us to learn their ways. I‘m taking notes and watching carefully.

Jewel fawn
Nature in balance

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What’s Your Pleasure?

What’s Your Pleasure?

20 Jun 2022 | Inspiration, Photography, Sex & Senses

I was thinking recently of how we tend to associate pleasure with something guilty, sinful, that has to be limited. Whereas it should be otherwise: if something brings you pleasure, and you don’t hurt anyone, why shouldn’t you have as much as you want of it? Wouldn’t we all be just more at ease and happy if we would allow ourselves to have as much pleasure as we have? And it goes obviously beyond sex, any pleasure you can have in life. So let’s turn on all the senses and talk openly about pleasure.

For me pleasure is:

  • standing in the kitchen with a warm mug full of aromatic tea and looking through the window letting the time pass and my thoughts flow freely;
  • stroking my hand through long grass on a meadow;
  • smelling the skin scent of the person I love;
  • tasting the combination of tangy fresh fruits and velvety crème patisserie on a brittle buttery crust;
  • feeling the sunshine through my eyelids, binge watching period series/films;
  • dancing barefoot on our wooden living room floor;
  • walking fast down a busy city street with music in my headphones and feeling like I’m just in the intro to the movie about my life.

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