Friday, September 29, 4.30pm Galerie Rabus

Karin Michalski
Pashke and Sophia
A film by Karin Michalski, Germany 2003, 28 min
Video and discussion

Since her/his 30th birthday Pashke has fulfilled the social role of a man. She/he relies on the Albanian tradition of sworn "virgines", which to some extent allows women to take on the rights and duties of men if the family's situation makes this gender change necessary. Theorists speak of a third gender: "Biological females wearing men's garb and often men's weaponry, performing men's jobs and enjoying […] public recognition as men have been reported from time to time in the western Balkans since the first half of the 1800s." (René Grémaux). In conversations with Pashke it becomes apparent that there may be more to her gender change than family necessity – a desire for maleness or a lesbian desire? Sophia, a friend of Pashke’s, is married. Sophia criticises the strict social limitations ruling her life as a housewife. But this is not only a film on gender in Albania: while giving glimpses into the world of Pashke and Sophia, the film questions every spectator's position towards her or his gender norms.


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