Clashing Differences

Clashing Differences

Director : Merle Grimme | Duration : 1h12 min | Year : 2023

October 25 - 8 pm to 10 pm

Location: Goethe-Institut Kanada

House of Womxn has a diversity problem. Forced to take action with the threat of being cancelled from the International Women’s, the all-white board members decide to change their International Women’s Day conference theme from 50/50 gender splits to diversity. They scramble to find panellists who will fit their checklist of diverse identities, resulting in a group of seven feminists being invited to Brandenburg ahead of the conference.

There’s Flora, the activist therapist who spends her time explaining intersectionality to white feminists; Sus, the ignored non-binary camera-person; Paula, the organiser dedicated to protecting House of Womxn’s image; Kisha, the black queenboss designer tired of being overlooked; Çena, the militant feminist with a broken leg; Simone, the lawyer struggling to run her law firm and raise her child gender-neutrally; and finally Hannah, the white long-time House of Womxn member who shows up unannounced to moderate. Forcing divers individuals to cohabitate for a weekend for the sake of solidarity certainly has its pitfalls. As their different viewpoints on race, feminism, and other hot-button issues like a love triangle threaten to derail the entire weekend, they find themselves dealing with a much more dangerous threat.

Merle Grimme is a Black German screenwriter, director and producer. She is a graduate of the University of Television and Film (HFF Munich) and previously graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Hildesheim. As a screenwriter, director and producer, she finished her diploma studies at the HFF Munich with the feature film and the eponymous mini-series 'Clashing Differences'. Both formats are a co-production between a.little film production, Sperl Film- und Fernsehproduktion and HFF Munich, in collaboration with ZDF - Das kleine Fernsehspiel and ARTE. The feature film had its shared world premiere at the Int. Filmfest Munich (New German Cinema) and the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco. Clashing Differences was nominated in all categories of the German Cinema New Talent Award (Best Director, Best Production, Best Screenplay, Best Performance). Merle Grimme won the Award for Best Screenplay. With the eponymous mini-series, Merle Grimme won the Big Audience Award of the First Steps Awards 2023. Additional awards for Clashing Differences followed. She has been a Junior Member of the German Film Academy since October 2023. As a producer, she developed an anti-discriminatory and inclusive production concept especially for this project, which has been tested on various levels and implemented in essential parts. This includes, among other things, the establishment of workshops on critical whiteness, empowerment trainings, discrimination-sensitive counselors on the set and a diverse team as well as cast. Merle Grimme attended various Writers Labs with industry leaders such as Robin Swicord (Women's Writing Lab; Drama), Taç Romey (Drama Series), Robert Krause and Florian Puchert (Rewrite Lab; Drama). Screenwriter, director and producer Robin Swicord is advising Merle Grimme on one of her upcoming projects. Merle Grimme's other directorial work includes the documentary 'Regretting Motherhood', which was invited to several national/international film festivals and panel discussions. Her social spot 'Der deutsche Kinderwunsch?", won the jury prize for the ZEIT Legacy Study, was named ZEIT Online best of 2017, and reached more over 500,000 views online. Merle Grimme's goal is to promote social justice by addressing inequalities, discrimination, and implicit bias. With her interdisciplinary work and political engagement, she confronts social taboos, questions social structures and initiates current discourses in the media and the public. In 2021, she was awarded the Engagement Prize of the German National Academic Foundation and was also nominated for the German Engagement Prize.


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