'The Feminist City' short-film screenings: a 2025 recap

Happy New Year to all from the Feminist Cities CoLAB!

Throughout 2025, the CoLAB team has been engaged in numerous projects across various universities worldwide. A major unifying focus has been the release and screening of our short film, "The Feminist City." This 9-minute documentary, filmed in Rio de Janeiro in 2024 in collaboration with the local audiovisual production company Brick Mov, includes insights from activists and academics from Brazil, Argentina, the United States, and other regions. The film addresses critical questions about designing more feminist urban spaces: What does it mean to create more feminist cities? How do women navigate and reimagine safety in urban environments that were not originally designed with them in mind?

Screening Events and Discussions

The inaugural screening of our film took place in November in Bristol, where Dr. Roxanna Pessoa Cavalcanti from the University of Bristol presented the documentary. Following the screening, a panel discussion was held featuring guest discussant Lorena Samuels, an academic and professional with over a decade of international leadership experience in fields such as Entrepreneurship, Quality Management, and Cybersecurity. Lorena also contributes her expertise to feminist business initiatives, including the Women Voices Project UK and the Grupo de Mulheres do Brasil in London, of which she serves as Co-Leader.

Lorena also joined us in our next screenings, which took place in Brighton in early December. The Actors pub, recognized as Brighton's 2025 pub of the year and committed to being an LGBTQAI+ safe space, graciously hosted two afternoon screenings and discussions of the short film. The panel following these screenings featured Dr. Julia Harviksen from the University of Sussex, PhD Candidate Ramon da Cruz from the University of Brighton, Professor Linda Tabar from the University of Sussex, along with Dr. Roxanna Pessoa Cavalcanti and Lorena Samuels.

Future Screenings and Acknowledgments

We want to thank everyone who participated in our screenings as discussants, attendees, or participants in the film-making! We would not have had such a successful launch if not for your interest and work. Also, the screenings will not stop now that the year has turned - we have an Edinburgh screening scheduled for January 21 (location tbd) and potentially more screenings to be announced!

(Picture from Brighton screening in The Actors Pub.)