An Army of Women

Cannes Docs

An Army of Women

Original title: An Army of Women

Directed by: Julie Lunde LILLESÆTER

Produced by: Natalya SARCH (Differ Media, Norway)

Country of production: Norway, Germany, USA

Runtime: 80', 52'

Expected release: March, 2024

Production stage: Post-production

Budget: €720.000 (95% in place)

1st feature: Yes

Looking for: Sales agent, distributors, executive producer, festivals, broadcast/streaming, strategic guidance for release, impact campaign partners

Synopsis:

Two women in Austin, Texas join forces with 13 other survivors to build a movement legally challenging the system that allowed their rapists to walk free. Their groundbreaking class-action lawsuit is the first to argue that sexual assault isn’t prosecuted due to gender discrimination. This is the landmark story of women fighting to hold law enforcement accountable, with resounding relevance worldwide.

Director’s profile:

As director and cinematographer, Julie combines a strong visual eye with a commitment to social change. Her films have explored themes such as women’s rights & equality issues, migration, and the climate crisis, and her short documentaries have been broadcast on Al Jazeera English, NRK, and The Atlantic, among others. Her work has screened at festivals such as CPH:DOX, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Hot Docs and BFI Flare. Julie’s cinematography on the documentary feature Thank You For The Rain (2017) has landed her multiple awards, including a WIFTV award for Best Cinematography. She is the co-founder of Differ Media, a production company focusing on impact-driven creative documentaries. In 2018, she was named Norwegian Video Journalist of the Year, and in 2020, she was listed on Forbes’ 30 under 30 list.

Producer’s profile:

Natalya Sarch has worked in the U.S., The Netherlands, and Norway on projects such as Trust Me (2021), Neighbors (2017) and No Time to Lose (2017). Her Interactive project Another Dream (2019) by Tamara Shogaolu premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. In 2020, Natalya joined forces with Julia Dahr and Julie Lunde Lillesæter at the independent production company Differ Media, based in Oslo, Norway. We tell character-driven, visually strong stories about some of the most important issues of our time. Our films have focused on issues like climate change, LGBTQ+ rights, migration and human rights. Differ’s productions have been broadcast in 60+ countries, and have been co-produced with broadcasters like Arte/ZDF, Al Jazeera, and NRK. In 2018, our feature Thank You for the Rain won Doc Society’s DocImpactHi5 award for its impact campaign.