Co-directors >> London based, Swedish born, filmmaker Hedvig Ahlberg and French filmmaker Agathe Barbier made a film to pay tribute to, and shed the light on, hardships that mothers, sisters, lovers and friends have gone through, and continue to go through, every day. It is a film to celebrate that strength.
Set to the slam poetry piece, "Lessons in Olympic Weightlifting", by poet Adele Hampton we look through the lens of a female weightlifter. Allowing us to see what it is to be a great mom and/or great athlete through the female body's obstacles: menstruation, childbirth and female specific diseases such as breast cancer and endometriosis; as well as domestic work, domestic violence and the plight of patriarchy.
Ahlberg and Barbier << We saw Adele performing at a slam poetry night in London, and fell in love with her presence and skill. We immediately knew that we wanted to collaborate with her, and that was the start of Strength.
It was important for us to create a space and atmosphere off camera that symbolises what we were shooting - we wanted everyone to have input and feel like they were a part of making Strength, so working with an all-female crew felt like a natural decision
To make the film come alive we wanted it to have a strong look and unique sound. Luciana our DP created a cinematic landscape that we could never have dreamed of, and Sarah who composed the score for the film translated all the emotions we wanted to convey on screen into sound. >>