Kim Longinotto has made some fantastic films about the lives women lead in different parts of the world. Her latest film, Sisters in Law, about women working in the judicial system in Cameroon, was selected for Cannes Film Festival.
Kim Longinotto studied camera operating and directing at the National Film School. While studying there, she made Pride of Place a critical look at her boarding school where she had spent several unhappy years, and Theatre Girls about a hostel for homeless women in London. After graduating she worked as camera on a variety of documentaries for TV. She then made another film Fireraiser with Claire Hunt about Sir Arthur 'bomber' Harris. They then made Eat the Kimono about Hanayagi Genshu, a Japanese dancer and activist, Hidden Faces about Egyptian women and the Good Wife of Tokyo about women, love and marriage in Japan. Dream Girls with Jano Williams came next. A film about the Takarazuka Theatre revue in Japan and Shinjuku Boys with Jano about women in Tokyo who choose to live as men. Divorce Iranian Style which Kim made with Ziba Mir Hosseini, is a fantastic film set in a family law court in Tehran, about women and divorce in Iran which is in the FourDocs archive. Then came Gaea Girls about women wrestlers in Japan and Runaway, set in a refuge for runaway girls in Tehran, Iran. The Day I Will Never Forget was about young girls in Kenya challenging tradition and trying to have a different future from their mothers. Her latest film, Sisters in Law, filmed in Kumba in South West Cameroon, is about female judges and shows old values being challenged in the courts. It won the Prix Art Essai in Cannes. Kim is currently researching a new film in Africa.
Kim shows extraordinary dedication to her work. While filming Sisters in Law she not only lost the first 6 weeks of rushes to an airport X-ray but also had to battle Typhoid Fever and Malaria to get the film done. Her compassion for her contributors is self evident in her films.
Sisters in Law (2005)
The Day I Will Never Forget (2002)
Runaway (2001/I)
Gaea Girls (2000)
Divorce Iranian Style (1998)
Rock Wives (1996) (TV)
Shinjuku Boys (1995)
Dream Girls (1994)
The Good Wife of Tokyo (1992)
Eat the Kimono (1989)
Underage (1982)
