Tiiiit! Inc. presents festival: Prvo pa žensko (It’s First and It’s a Girl)

FRIDAY 11.03

18:00 MOVIE SCREENING
Cinema Frosina
All About You, film by Alina Marazzi (Italy) – movie screening in collaboration with Italian Language Department of Faculty for Philology within the Saints Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje
The fruitful cooperation between the students from the Italian Language Department of Faculty for Philology and Tiiiit!Inc. continues! Last year we had the opportunity to see the Alina Marazzi’s movie “We want roses too” whose translation was done by the students.
This year they have translated this Italian women director’s film “All About You”, which tells the story of Pauline, an unusual woman in her 60s, who returns to her hometown for the first time after 50 years. Polina starts working in the support center for future and young mothers suffering from post-natal depression and thus becomes a witness to a large archive of materials related to motherhood. Pauline starts to investigate the archive penetrating deep into controversial women’s testimonies about their experiences in the relationships with their children.
Director: Alina Marazzi
Writers: Alina Marazzi (story), Gaia Giani (story)
Stars: Charlotte Rampling, Elena Radonicich, Maria Grazia Mandruzzato

20:00 PROTEST PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION OPENING
MKC hall
WOMAN FIGHTER – female portrait of the civil resistance in Macedonia 2015
How feminine it sounds: Free Macedonia!
The woman’s will is unwavering. She is everywhere around us and she is the guiding strength of life because the love, the truth, the justice, the tolerance, the bravery, and the freedom are at her side. This exhibition is just a small portrait of the female face of the year marked with whistles, chants and rallies at the streets. An echo of the authentic women fight with the police batons, the shields, the boots with metal sole, with the barricades, the tear gas and the water cannons. An echo of the female NO to the injustice, the violence and the crime. Despite being proclaimed as the grand-daughters of the witches who the ancestors of the tsar couldn’t burn, the Macedonian women conquer the streets fearlessly and tirelessly. Soon they will conquer the freedom!

21:00 GALA NIGHT OF WOMEN’S STORYTELLING
Cinema Frosina
PEACHPREACH
Has it been awhile since you’ve heard a woman talk? Is it possible that a woman can tell a story in ten minutes, without making digressions and without you interrupting her? Then come to PeachPreach, where you’ll have the unique opportunity to enjoy the storytelling of several outstanding, daring women from our everyday environment on the topic “The first time I…” – each according to her interpretation. The choice of storytellers is just as exciting as the stories, which we hope will be both socially and emotionally titillating. The concept and realization of this project is the work of Ana Vasileva and Rumena Buzarovska.

22:00 FRESH MALE MEAT – DJ set
cinema Frosina bifet
Lepi Xhoni, Na Meho Maliot, Kung FUlish & Crno Seme
At the end of the first day of the festival, all we are left to do is to let ourselves go to Lepi Xhoni, Na Meho Maliot, Kung FUlish и Crno Seme while they work hard to heat up the atmosphere in the cafe Frosina. Our crushes from Skopje’s favorite bands with all their attention and dedication, will make sure we get an all-inclusive musical treatment. Sisters, come in great numbers and let us synchronize our sighing to all the refined rhythmic selection of the four young artists. Note: Please don’t take the DJ’s home before closing time.

SATURDAY 12.03

12:00 FEMALE ROOM (presentations)

Presentation of the Vox Feminae Festival and croatian feminist internet portal VoxFeminae.net, Muff.com.hr and Libela.org
You read Vox and you had a great time on the Vox Feminae festival? Through the video chat, find out who are Vox, what is their story and what do they do? Together we will discuss why it is important for the women’s voice to be heard loud and clear, why it is important to conquer and persist on feminist (virtual) spaces and through them empower women and marginal groups, what are the challenges that a feminist portal faces, or in short, how can we fight against patriarchy! Muff and Libela are croatian feminism and popular culture internet portals. The women editors talk about raising their portals from scratch, the biggest challenges they are facing and about their most beautiful and most difficult moments.

Femkanje is an independent radio show and a platform designed to improve and strengthen the independent cultural and art scene by promoting gender equality and creating media coverage for presentation, networking and education of young primarily female as well as male authors from Serbia and the ex-Yugoslavian region. The show is hosted by Bojana S. Knežević i Katarina Petrović, both artists, that during the period of 2 years, have interviewed more than 80 female (and male) authors and collectives active in different areas, from independent arts, cultural scene, education, activism and science.

The form of radio show is recognized as a space for open dialogue that allows the meeting of guests and audience outside of the discriminatory visual communication in mass-media. Along with growing censorship and monopoly of domestic media, as well as poorly organized and financially supported independent scene, Femkanje organizes its work as a free zone of artistic and civil engagement.

You can follow Femkanje on their website www.femkanje.com and facebook page www.facebook.com/femkanje, all past shows are available on their podcast www.mixcloud.com/FEMKANJE/.

FEMART – organized by Artpolis, is the only feminist art Festival in Kosovo and the biggest one in the Region of Balkans, that will be held this year from 25-31st of May, 2016. Our Festival is organized each year, and it engages around 100 women artists and activists who showcase artistic creations (Theater plays, documentary films and short films, readings, visual art, exhibitions, performances concerts, book promotions, literature, workshops, discussions and presentations as well as other forms of art by women from Kosovo, region, Europe and America with a feminist/activist approach, and over 2000 audience members and its considered one of the top Festivals in Kosovo.

All Together Distro – Tejka and Elena

All Together Distro is music, love, passion, friendship, respect, smiles, unity… All Together Distro is 80 artists and over 100 releases. Or maybe we can put it this way: All Together Distro is a non-profit organization whose main goal was to support the local underground bands by promoting and selling their promotional merchandise. All Together Distro is three girls: Eka, Eci and Tea. Every one of them has her own story but they all share the same idea and goal: to support the culture and the music that we love, live and listen to. When these three girls joined their creative ideas and their passion to do what they love, the All Together Distro was created. Later on this inspired booking bands and tours, organizing concerts, radio shows… We went to around 80 different concerts in and outside of Skopje. We had the pleasure to host bands from USA, Sweden, Italy, France, Slovenia…

Come if you would like to listen to our story. “Come on girls, you can do better”!

15:00 ANTI-LECTURE

Women writing is (un)existing

Women’s writing till this day remains a complex term, which can be hardly defined. On one hand, one text is considered women’s writing by its own characteristics, i.e. the french écriture féminine. On the other hand for some people women’s writing is simply a text written by a female writer. From a feminist perspective, women’s writing began with Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, and continued with french feminist theory (especially Hélène Cixous and Julia Kristeva), anglo-american gynocriticism (Elaine Showalter) and the contemporary thoughts of Toril Moi.

17:00 PANEL DISCUSSION

HERA – Who’s afraid from the gender online? Youth activism and reproductive health

Speakers: Jovana Ananievska, HERA; Maja Mrmova – volunteer at HERA; Biljana Ginova – LezFem; Natasha Boshkova – Coalition „Sexual and reproductive rights of the marginalized groups”
Moderator: Ana Pop Stefanija – HERA
Why is it so terrifying to talk about sexual and reproductive health and rights? To talk about gender inequality and other “female” questions? Why men think that they should make the decisions about women’s rights instead of the women themselves? Why a picture of two men holding hands is considered “disturbing”, and if it’s two girls – not at all? Why every one of these subjects raises a storm of comments online? Through a presentation about their experience on events and campaigns about gender, sexual and reproductive health and activism, the speakers will try to provide an answer for the question: What is it that causes this storm of online comments every time when someone mentions sexual and reproductive health? Why these subjects are still controversial, what is it that mostly causes

the reaction, which groups of people leave comments, what are the most frequent comments, what are the characteristics of the hate speech that is inevitably present?

18:30 SHORT MOVIES SCREENING 96’ (VOXfeminae FESTIVAL)

Short teen movies by Croatian female and male authors

In the past few years Croatia has witnessed a boom in new authors and movies that enable Croatian cinema to pass the Bechdel test. The selected movies show (a)typical situations from everyday life of teenagers.
Youngster

Two children spend their time on the top of the skyscraper with sea view. He is Tom Sawyer, and she is Alice in Wonderland, and they do everything that is forbidden. Her parents are not present, but their telephone conversations imply that they are hiding something, during that time she is left with her grandma. On the top of the skyscraper the Youngster will fall love for the first time, enjoy time spent with Zane, a boy that she is in love with, until two older girls show up and take over his attention. Double Part of the omnibus Zagreb stories pt.2 – Two girls in their 20s, Mia and Sara, move in a new apartment. Will their love get lost between the boxes that surround them?
First Lady of Dubrava
Amra is a rapper from the hood, Dina is Amra’s annoying younger sister. Dina has asthma and often acts as if she can’t breathe, just to get what she wants. On the day of the shooting of Amra’s new video, their parents go shopping in Bosnia, and Amra is stuck with Dina.

MY! MY! MY Room!

The oldest sister prepares for her studies abroad, her younger brother and sister start a battle over her room. They both want to move out of the big room, where they sleep with their parents and finally get some privacy.
Smart-ass

Maria has a boyfriend, but her roommate Nikolina is still a virgin. But, when she realizes that social norms and rituals have changed, she starts to change her attitude and accept new responsibilities.

20:00 EXHIBITION

HERE COME THE WOMEN

The work relies on research done in collaboration with Andreja Dugandžić, within CRVENA’s Association for Culture and Arts project “What has our struggle given us?”. The research manifested as an online archive of documents, photographs, books and interviews about the feminist heritage of the Antifascist Front of Women of Yugoslavia, exploring the participation of Yugoslav women in the Second World War and their indispensable contribution to (re)building the Socialist state. The People’s Front decided to abolish the Anti-Fascist Front of Women in 1953 the same year when Atomic War Command (Object ARK) started to be built. A different cold war started for women. Again they were about to be domesticated, placed back into the private sphere of the house, to perform their “natural” roles.

21:00 PERFORMANCE

Girl with the Sun Over Her Head

Girl with the Sun Over Her Head is a performance piece by actress, choreographer and director Agnes Nokshiqi and actress Donike Ahmeti. The performance addresses women’s sexuality, solidarity, hypocrisy, motherhood and self-awareness. It also raises questions on our self-perception, judging of others and overcoming barriers that are constructed by the society.

21:30 SHORT MOVIES SCREENING 76’ (VOXfeminae FESTIVAL)
GIRLS-movies about girls growing up: first love, menstruation, arguing with parents, bodies and friendships.
Bloomers When she realizes that she is the only girl in her class that hasn’t gotten her period, Stella tries to solve the ‘problem’ by undertaking different suspicious methods.
Rose And Sophia Teen story about two friends that decide to revive their passion towards espionage. Don’t Be Curly About tameless curls, troubles, dreams and the power of wishes we wish for.
Gnarly In Pink Bella, Sierra i Relz love pink, unicorns, glitter and … skating!
Seashells Valentina chooses her first bra while listening to Spice Girls.
40 Love A terribly sweet love story about Debbie and Maria who met each other under very weird circumstances. How did Maria completely accidentally nocaut Debby during the tennis match, what followed and what does this have to do with Lilly Allen?

ECCENTRIC WOMEN – 5 unusual life stories: about sex, horses and princesses.
Orsolya One day Orsolya discovers a sad change on her body, because of which her life (literally) turns upside down.
Moving On From Vanilla Cute animated guide through BDSM 🙂
Princesses with muscles Every night 10 princesses disappear and come back in even better shape. The king decides to take the matter in his own hands and resolve the mystery.
Teat Beat of Sex This film is about fear of penetration, obsession of men with their genitalia, vaginal juices and masturbation.
Pineapple Calamari Pineapple Calamari has two inseparable owners and dreams about becoming a winner of horse races. When an unexpected tragedy happens to this happy family, their relationship takes an unusual turn.

23:00 PARTY

ALINKA, Dragshich a.k.a. Hada Blam, Ilina Angelovska

This year “Lucky First! It’s a Girl!” presents DJ ALINKA. She’s from Chicago, the place of the genesis and the transformation of the culture that completely change the life in the city, and definitely brings and promotes those values – quality music, safe place for the outcast and the freedom to be yourself. Her DJ sets are a refined selection of the old and the rare house music that has been spiced up according to the occasion. In the present state of total availability of equipment for making music and hyper-production, Alinka can safely be called the keeper of the real house music. https://soundcloud.com/aalinkaa

When we are at it, lina Angel has been keeping the Macedonians dancefloors warm since 2003 and she represents one of the most valuable personalities on stage. She is a professional, practical and a creative

person and with an impeccable selection of the latest music that you can hear in Skopje’s nightclubs and “Music for the Youth” on Channel 103. https://soundcloud.com/ilinaangel
Ivana Dragshich, came patiently to her place on the club scene, by creating a selection of music that comprises modern production, enhanced with rare electronic publications of various genre. Nada Blam House is her incarnation, because of the sense of uniqueness and celebrating of this culture. https://www.mixcloud.com/ivana_dragsic/

SUNDAY 13.03

13:00-20:00 CRAFT BAZAAR
Free space to present and promote handcrafts made for and from people who like to stand out in the crowd. 8th of March is gone, but that’s not a reason to ignore it the other days of the year.

13:00 FEMALE ROOM (presentations)

One Can!

In the struggle for decent life as a single mother I decided to initiate the creation of this group for self- help for single-parent families. My goal was not only to gather everyone of interest in one place and tell each other what is troubling or depressing us, but most importantly to take action. To get to the heart of our everyday ordeals by reconsidering our actions in this society, to be constructive and to fight actively for the elementary rights and specific needs of the single-parent families.

United against violence against women

The project “United against violence against women” was created by four young women from Macedonia, Croatia and Montenegro, at the spring school for “Gender democracy” enabled by “Balkans let’s get up!” The main reasons that got us united into creating and implementing this project were the awareness that the problem of violence against women is present in the Balkans and that the women are passive and afraid to talk about this issue, the personal motivation as women and young people, and of course the responsibility that we felt to include ourselves into the dealing with this problem.
The project’s main goals were: to prevent the violence against women, to raise awareness of the existence of the problem, and to strengthen and encourage young women.

14:00 DISCUSSION

HERA Youth: Can you recognize love? True love?

Moderator: Maja Balshikjeska
Speakers: Despina Stojanovska – First family center; Naser Durmishi – First family center; Elena Dimushevska – National network against violence against women and domestic violence.
The statistics about this very little talked subject say that 1 out of 5 young female teenagers and women is a victim of violence in a relationship. What are the signs, how to recognize, and how to get out of the circle of violence in a relationship? A social worker and a psychiatrist will be talking about the practice of FFC (The First Family Centre that works with offenders, children and women survivors of gender based

violence) and they will be focusing on the most common cases of violence in relationships, but also on the main features of the violent masculinity, and the work with the offenders. The discussion also imposes the question: What actions are taken on national level; are there any interventions in the educational programs; where do you report and where do you ask for help for violence in relationships?

16:00 FEMALE ROOM (presentation)

Platform for gender equality

The presentation of the Platform for gender equality has all the information concerning the creating, the mission, the vision, the goals of the Platform, the way it works and all its past activities. The Platform will present the process with who the civic organizations, who work in the field of gender equality, have built the mechanism that joins their expertise with the experience, all in purpose to influence the politics at local and national level. The presentation will show you one of the more efficient ways for a civic organization to spread its voice, and create leadership and unity in the joint action based on solidarity, equality, participation, transparency, voluntariness and responsibility.

LEFTIST MOVEMENT SOLIDARITY (Macedonia)
The girls from LM Solidarity will talk about their relatively young organization, which since its public exposure has a rather “female face”. Moreover, they will talk about the importance of one organization’s efforts towards gender equality as well as the importance of the specificity of those efforts and their effects in practice. From a standing point of a leftist movement, they will talk about the intersectionality – the importance of the connection of the struggle for gender equality with the one for workers’ rights and the obligation of each organization who wants to authentically advocate a leftist agenda not to marginalize the women’s inclusion.

17:00 DISCUSSION

Stories from the refugee crisis

Moderator: Jana Stardelova – Tiiiit! Inc.
Speakers: Uranija Pirovska – Helsinki committee for human rights if the Republic of Macedonia, Mersiha Smailovikj – Legis and Lenche Zdravkin
In 2015, about a hundred kilometers south and north from Skopje, passes the Western Balkan route. On that route people pass daily, searching for safety and better tomorrow. Through the women’s efforts and the first person stories we make a review of the events of 2015, the stories behind the holocaust of our time, and what is expecting us in 2016. Together with our speakers we will bring back the humanity in this dehumanized story, we will tell Syrian, Afghan, and other stories from the field.

18:00 PRESENTATION OF THE CHILDREN PARTICIPANTS ON THE WORKSHOP FOR “WHISPERING OF THE WALLS”
cinema Frosina foyer
-description of the workshop for children which runs throughout the festival is presented below

20:00 THEATRE PERFORMANCE
SPRING AWAKENING texts by Frank Wedekind and other documentary materials
Director: Sofija Ristevska Dramaturgist: Biljana Krajchevska Choreographer: Kire Mladinoski
Starring: Zdravko Stojmirov, Stefanija Milevska and Sofija Ristevska
Spring awakening is an intimate story of the challenges that every woman has to face in order to fulfill her hopes and dreams. With a large portion of humor and self-irony our actors overcome all the obstacles they encounter on their way. We are creating a new version of “Bridget Jones” that is not afraid to speak up for her flaws and imperfections, but at the same time she has the power to fight for her rights and privileges. Box, ballet, motorbikes, driving schools, hot-head bosses, fat bodies, plus size clothing, aerobics, sports professors, weddings, wedding dresses and love, lots and lots of love ! Neoliberalism, sexism and lack of information are completely helpless against the persistence, the humor and the constructive self-criticism, and the women’s search for a world without any restrictions and limits.
The Intimate Theater was formed in February 2010 in Bitola. So far we have conducted seven independent theater projects, which we have performed in different areas, from October 2013 we have our own theater space in Bitola on the street Stiv Naumov number 35, where we can accommodate an audience of around 60 people. The main objective of the Intimate Theatre is to use texts from modern playwrights, that concern the social problems and that analyze the life of the modern man, with all of his pluses and minuses.

21:00 CONCERT
Ana Ćurčin Young singer-songwriter from Belgrade who started performing actively in December 2012. She’s performing her songs in English, but you can often hear her perform a cover. Her music is a mix of indie-rock and American folk, and she is considered as the best representative of the local American scene in Serbia. Even though she’s often accompanied by her band – guitar and drums, at her performance in Skopje you’ll have the opportunity to see her solo performance and enjoy the perfect blend of acoustic guitar and vocals.

********************************************* PARALLEL PROGRAM

Comic Workshop with Helena Janecic

Do you have a story which you want to express in pictures? Would you like to impress your girlfriend/boyfriend or you just wish to get dirty with black ink? You’ll get the chance to this during “Lucky First! It’s a Girl!”. Helena Janecic will introduce you to the process of making comics – from creating characters to developing scenarios. It’s not necessary to have any previous comics knowledge, drawing skills for all the tasks will be simple and original.
The focus of the artist Helena Janecic (Osijek, Croatia) is the female protagonist that will be put into a visual narrative of self-confidence, the awareness of herself and again conceived tradition. Her artistic work that includes large-scale canvases, prints, drawings inspired by comic books, tingles and attracts at the same time, but it also engaging because it sets a balance between the aesthetic rigor, the personal confession and the social commentary. Helena has graduated visual arts on the Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, got her MA degree at the Academy of Arts in Zagreb, Croatia. He works as an independent artist since 2010.

WORKSHOP FOR CHILDREN “WHISPERING OF THE WALLS” 11-13.03.
Pocket Cinema
Shadow Casters (Croatia)
The workshop, designed for children between 8 and 12 years, is inspired by the perceived social need for different and more complex educational methods in order insight into the complex dynamics of city life and urbanity, history and logic of architecture issues of modern living and the policies of public spaces to be provided for today’s children. The city’s multilayeredness is shown to the children through a series of drama exercises, research opportunities and performing games, and spontaneously, through which play, they are encouraged to reflect on the space in which they live, on their own and others’ behavior in it and they are given insight into the reality which surrounds them. The moderators of the workshop come from different humanistic and artistic branches – Anja Pletikosa (playwright), Vedran Senjanovikj (cameraman), Sandra Uskokovic (art historian) and Boris Bakal (actor, director, intermedia artist). The workshop is dedicated to “Woman Fighter” park, its content and the stories of its authors and of its written and unwritten choreography. The workshop will deal with the current situation of the park, its past and possible future that will be fitted by the children. Multidisciplinary approach to the study of space is presented at the end of the workshop through joint performance of children and moderators of the workshop. Workshop is realized in cooperation with AKTO Festival of Contemporary Art.

HUMANITARIAN ACTION FOR REFUGEE WOMEN 11-13.03.
cinema Frosina foyer, first floor
During the whole festival a collection point for clothing and hygiene means for women and children refugees will be open. In cooperation with NGOs, active on the field, the collected means will be transported and donated in the refugee camps.

WOMEN’S HEALTH!

Title: Check In/Check Up @HERA Mobile Clinic

12.03. & 13.03. at MKC, 15:00 – 18:00h
HERA’s mobile clinic at Prvo pa zensko for the first time! Great opportunity to get medical examination for free and to ask in confidence whatever you wanted to know about sexual and reproductive health but you didn’t have where to ask. Look for HERA’s van and get some of the free examinations and consults: gynecological examination, Papanicolaou test, an ultrasound examination, oral hormonal contraception, emergency contraception, consult, diagnosis and treatment of STI, consult for modern contraception, distribution of free contraceptives and lubricants.

The Festival is realized in cooperation with Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of the Republic of Macedonia, Coalition “Sexual and Health Rights of Marginalized Communities”, LGBTI Support Centre,

LezFem, Fight Like A Girl, HERA and AKTO Festival of Contemporary Arts, supported by Open Society Foundation – Macedonia, FRIDA The Young Feminist Fund, Zaklada Kultura nova – Croatia and Youth Cultural Center – Skopje.