Saturday, March 22 / 3:30 pm / Ottawa Art Gallery

Program: Wild Diamond, audience discussion with Tish Black and Jamie Miller
Guest: Jamie Miller, director and producer, Seachange Films

This program is presented in partnership with the Institut français du Canada.

The Gaze program, created by IFFO programmer Tish Black, brings the audience into the screening experience to discuss films from underrepresented filmmakers. The film and thematic talk of each screening explore, with the audience, the personal and cultural significance of seeing on film people and perspectives different from our own.

For this year’s program at IFFO, Tish invites St. John’s-based filmmaker Jamie Miller to discuss the featured film Wild Diamond and the pressures young women face in a social media-based world of judgement and performance. Liane lives for her likes, comments, and followers. Her online persona feels far from her real life where she has to steal to pay for her breast implants. But if she gets her shot on a reality show, it will all be worth it.

How can you judge what is too much, too far, too extreme when the goal is fame and acceptance? Liane, at only 19, has crafted herself into what she’s been told is the ideal woman. But who benefits? One of the most profitable industries in the world is the insecurity of women; celebrity cosmetic lines, 8-step skincare routines, weight loss teas, and flattering clothing, to name a few. To be sold these things, women must first believe that who they are now is not good enough. Good enough for whom? The term “the male gaze” has made its way from film discussion into pop culture; on TikTok, women proclaim they are no longer dressing for “the male gaze” and talk about how their lives have changed since “de-centring men.” On screen, women filmmakers, like Coralie Fargeat with The Substance, explore the extremes women go to and challenge the systems that push them there.

Centred around Wild Diamond, Tish and Jamie, along with the audience, will discuss the pressures and expectations put on young women, the extremes they’re willing to go to, the patriarchal misogynist system that created it, and how we see this portrayed in films.

Feature presentation \

Liane will do almost anything for fame. At 19, she has already paid for her breast implants and lip filler by shoplifting and selling the goods. Her mother certainly wouldn’t be able to help pay for it; Liane and her younger sister are only recently back to her home after time in foster care. Liane lives in her own world; one defined by likes, comments, and followers on her phone. Everything in her life is a performance, which makes her a perfect candidate for a Love Island-type reality show. After her audition, she ascends higher into her world of Insta-fame; in her mind, she’s already got the gig. She’s too good for her family, her friends, her town, or any of the boys living there. But beneath the surface, Liane is combustible; she’s quick to pick a fight or put her body at risk if it makes good content. Whether she’s delusional or acutely tuned into reality might depend on if she gets the callback. Agathe Riedinger’s debut feature delves into the twisted world that young women live in, where they are the commodity and they sell themselves to the algorithm. Malou Khebizi’s complex performance as Liane has been nominated for and won several awards including Best Actress at the Stockholm Film Festival.

- Tish Black

Liane ferait presque n’importe quoi pour connaître la gloire. À 19 ans, elle a déjà payé pour des implants mammaires et des injections aux lèvres en faisant du vol à l’étalage et en vendant les biens. Ce n’est certainement pas sa mère qui pourrait payer pour; Liane et sa jeune sœur viennent juste de revenir à la maison après avoir passé du temps en famille d’accueil. Liane vit dans son propre monde; un monde qui se définit par les « J’aime », les commentaires et les abonnés sur son téléphone. Tout dans sa vie est une prestation, ce qui fait d’elle une candidate idéale pour une émission de téléréalité du type L’île à l’amour. Après son audition, elle monte plus haut dans le monde de la célébrité instantanée; dans sa tête, elle est déjà sélectionnée. Elle est trop bonne pour sa famille, ses amies, sa ville, ou tous les garçons qui y vivent. Mais sous la surface, Liane est inflammable; elle n’hésitera pas à se bagarrer ou à mettre son corps en danger si ça crée du bon contenu. Qu’elle soit désillusionnée ou qu’elle saisisse vraiment la réalité pourrait dépendre de l’appel qu’elle recevra. Le premier long métrage d’Agathe Riedinger plonge dans le monde tordu dans lequel vivent les jeunes femmes, où elles sont une commodité et se vendent dans l’algorithme. La prestation complexe de Malou Khebizi dans le rôle de Liane a été nominée pour des prix et en a remporté plusieurs, dont celui de meilleure actrice au Stockholm Film Festival.

- Traduit par Jacinthe Grenier-Albert

This program is presented in partnership with the Institut français du Canada.