The Cat Got Her Tongue
Director: Gaele Sobott
Crew:Writer: Gaele Sobott. Animator: Daria Lytvynenko; Sound Design: Latif Rabhi; Voiceover Artists: Kate Hood
Email:gaelesobott@gmail.com
Synopsis
What happens when women become more isolated as they grow older? How do they feel when they see the environment around them ravaged, and their means of resistance closed down?
About the director
Gaele Sobott is a writer and director who lives on Dharug land, Western Sydney, Australia. Her books include the short-story collection, Colour Me Blue and the literary biography, My Longest Round. Her award-winning animated poems have screened internationally. She was granted a 2023 Australia Council Fellowship to create poetry animations in translation.
Filmmaker's note
Due to discrimination, rising rents, relationship violence and cost of living spikes, along with low savings and superannuation, older women, especially disabled women, are the new face of poverty in Australia. This animation taps into the vast intersectional experience and knowledge older women have to offer not only in fighting to end poverty but also in finding ways to mitigate the ongoing effects of colonisation (including the destructive presence of introduced species), and the horrors of climate catastrophe and ecosystem collapse that are now upon us. This older woman has run out of patience and is not willing to play along with exclusionary power structures. I hope the many pieces of her tongue carry radical fury, humour and love through the cities and beyond.