IFB Doc ‘Monica’ premieres at Locarno
Soilsiu Films co-production ‘Monica, la Reine del Condon' (Monica, Queen of Condoms) had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival, when it competed in the renowned International Critics Week category against six other documentaries. The Swiss festival, which is in its 60th year, took place 1-11 August.
The feature length documentary tells the story of East German woman, Monica Krause, who became Cuba's foremost sex educator with her own radio and television shows, and numerous books after she moved to Cuba in the 1970's. She was a taboo-breaker who became known as ‘The Queen of Condoms' as she was very involved in fighting for the rights of a woman to her own body, sexual gratification, contraception and to have an abortion . She was later forced to leave the country when her support of homosexual rights made her unpopular with the Castro administration.
Donegal-based Soilsiu Films co-produced the documentary with Zurich-based Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion and received funding from the Irish Film Board. The majority of post-production was done in Ireland, with sound mixing at Ardmore and picture editing done by Una Ni Dhonghaile. The project is an example of the IFB's increasing commitment and emphasis on feature-length creative documentaries capable of reaching an international audience through theatrical and festival exposure.
The IFB's funding of the film also established a deal whereby Dschoint Ventschr Filmproducktion are now obliged to reciprocate the funding support of the IFB by sourcing an equivalent amount of funding for another of Soilsiu Films documentary or fiction projects.