The Cat has Nine Lives - Opening Film + Q&A

We are opening the festival with a milestone in (West) German feminist cinematic history.  The screening will be followed by an exclusive Q&A recording with director Ula Stöckl and festival curator Rastko Novaković. Ula shares her unique perspective on filmmaking, the challenges she was facing as a female director, and insights into her work process.

“The Cat has Nine Lives” is set in Munich in the summer of 1967. The essayistic feature film focuses on five types of women in its episodic plot, each trying to carve out their own space in a male-dominated society. Journalist Katharina receives a visit from her friend Anne from France. They go on trips, visit cafés, acquaintances, and parties. Gabriele has her eyes set on business. Magdalena struggles with her role of a classic housewife. The fifth, Kirke, has found a way to freedom. In conversation, they explore the opportunities for female emancipation. According to film critic Christa Maerker, Ula Stöckl's graduation film at the Ulm Institute of Film Design is ‘the first feminist film’ in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Directed by Ula Stöckl, 1968, 90 min

Ula Stöckl is one of Germany's most important filmmakers and a key figure in feminist film making. She has made over 20 films, the majority of which she was screenwriter and producer/co-producer. Her films have been screened at more than 70 festivals and she has been a guest-lecturer at a number of universities. She has also given presentations at the Goethe-Institute in many different countries throughout Europe as well as in Australia, America and Canada.

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