Ovarian Psycos

Ovarian Psycos

Joanna Sokolowski, Kate Trumbull-LaValle

US
2016
Documentary
72’
Focus

Riding at night through the streets of Eastside Los Angeles is considered dangerous. But the Ovarian Psycos Bicycle Brigade, a misfit crew of feminist women of colour, use their bikes to confront the violence in their lives. In their first joint full-length film, Sokolowski und Trumbull- LaValle portray three of the crew protagonists: Xela de la X, founder of the group, single mother and rapper, street artist Andi, who aspires to become a leader in the crew, and bright-eyed recruit Evie.

»Our initial concept of the film was an all-out-super-heroine story. A story where confident, unwavering young women – the Ovas – take back the streets en masse, on bikes, shouting in the face of convention. But once we started production the film took a turn. The real super- heroine work was happening behind the scenes, in daily life, within their personal relationships as mothers, daughters, and sisters. We discovered working-class young women who were strong but vulnerable. Feminism isn’t something the Ovas choose, but it has been inherited. Inherited from living in a community politicised by the civil rights movement, and by the realities and challenges of growing up within the context of colonisation, immigration, racism, misogyny and gendered violence. These were women dramatising power and freedom on their bikes, at night, publicly in the streets, and at the same time struggling to hold onto that same power as single mothers, aspiring artists, students and working women.«
– Joanna Sokolowski and Kate Trumbull-LaValle

Presented by L.MAG – Das Magazin für Lesben

Film series In This Together


Awards for ›Ovarian Psycos‹
Audience Award – Portland Film Festival 2016 |People’s Choice Award – Rueda, Festival Internacional de Cinema Ciclista, Barcelona 2016

Director

Joanna Sokolowski, Kate Trumbull-LaValle

Cinematography

Michael Raines

Editing

Victoria Chalk

Music

Jimmy LaValle

Production

Sylvia Frances Films

Contact

Women Make Movies

WWW

wmm.com

Joanna Sokolowski

Joanna Sokolowski is an independent documentary film-maker. She co-produced the film Very Semi-Serious (2015) and has worked as a producer for Walking Iris Media and Open Studio Productions. Together with Kate Trumbull-LaValle, she founded Sylvia Frances Films in 2013 to produce Ovarian Psycos, her first full-length film.

Kate Trumbull-LaValle

Kate Trumbull-LaValle is an independent documentary film-maker who worked first as a lecturer and programme coordinator for the Media Arts Center San Diego in the field of media and social justice. She co-produced No Más Bebés (2015) and co-directed and co-produced Ovarian Psycos with her partner Joanna Sokolowski.