Documentary, 80 minutes *In French with English subtitles
Free and open to Columbia University Community only - RSVP with CUID required. RSVP HERE
The screening will be followed by an in-person discussion with director Sébastien Lifshitz and Nora Philippe
7-year-old Sasha has always known she was a girl, even though she was assigned male at birth. As society fails to treat her like the other children her age – during her daily life at school, dance lessons, or birthday parties – her supportive family leads a constant battle to make her difference understood and accepted. Released in 2021, Lifshitz’s documentary film has been the recipient of multiple awards and has been viewed several million times in France.
Sébastien Lifshitz is an award-winning French screenwriter and director. Born in 1968, Lifshitz has navigated between fiction films (Come Undone, Wild Side and Going South) and documentaries, with a particular focus on identity quests, queer, gay and lesbian characters, as well as coming-of-age stories (Adolescentes, 2019). His work has received the most prestigious awards in France and has been featured in international film festivals in Cannes, Venice, and Berlin. In his life-long effort to document marginalized communities and sexualities, Lifshitz has collected an exceptional photographic archive that has been exhibited and published under the title Mauvais genre, to which the title of this film series pays tribute.
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This event is featured as part of the film festival, Mauvais Genres: French Cinema Takes on Gender organized by the Columbia Maison Française and curated by Nora Philippe. Additional support is provided by Cultural Services of the French Embassy, Knapp Family Foundation, Paul LeClerc Centennial Fund, Columbia University Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities.
