Before starting to talk about “Footy Chicks” which premiered on Thursday night at the Sydney Film Festival, I need to alert you to a potential conflict of interest: the film’s producer, Michaela Perske is a friend of mine.
“Footy Chicks” is a documentary about women in Sydney and Melbourne who are, primarily, footy fans. In addition to that, there’s a group of women who sleep with the players, with a significant divide between these women and those who are married to, or who are girlfriends of players.
I’ve known about “Footy Chicks” for a couple of years now and had a pretty intimate knowledge of the type of film it would be. As the film was being made, Michaela would tell me about the footage they’d shot, the stories they’d been told, the people they’d met. So when, for example, footage of a large number of women’s breasts that was shot by a footy player appeared on screen, I knew it before the caption “Player Cam” appeared.
Having that intimate knowledge I was perhaps lulled into a false sense of the subject matter. Subject matter dealing with sexually adventurous men and women, rape, group sex and so on, didn’t phase me at all, whereas other people I know were shocked.
What I hadn’t expected, and what I was pleased about, was that all of the women appearing in the film emerged with dignity. These women know exactly what they are doing and why they are doing it, with the exception, of course, of the experiences detailed of those women who were sexually assaulted.
The story of the women in this film is told with passion and humour, which the audience on opening night really seemed to appreciate. The film was well received with a good solid round of applause and there was a lot of interesting discussion in the “Q&A” segment that followed.
After the movie, we went to dinner at the Arthouse Hotel, a great venue with a good atmosphere, but when it comes to the main course, a 5-spice duck dish with bok choy, I have just three letters for you: KFC. Honestly…
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