Panel: REFRAMING WOMEN FILMMAKERS FROM THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Panel discussion featuring researchers Teodora Doncheva and Léa Dabrowski, moderated by documentary film expert Charlotte Ducos
Who gets remembered in cinema history and who gets left out?
Presented in collaboration with Another Story, this panel explores the visibility and recognition of women filmmakers from the twentieth century, asking how their work has been documented, remembered and included (or excluded) from the film canon.
Using Ceiling and Lullaby, presented as part of Sofia Documental, as starting points, the discussion will examine the lack of archives, writing and critical attention around many women directors, and why recovering their work remains important today.
The conversation will also compare Polish and Bulgarian cinema, looking at the different contexts in which women filmmakers worked and how their contributions have been preserved and remembered within these two national film histories.
Finally, the panel will question the label “woman director” and consider practical ways to make women filmmakers more visible, from research and programming, to documenting their work, expanding their presence in film studies and creating opportunities for filmmakers to contribute to their own histories.
Panelists:
Lea Dabrowski
Léa Dabrowski is a PhD student, researcher, and assistant professor at the University of Caen Normandy (France). Specialist in Polish cinema, she focuses on the representation of women in contemporary Polish cinema. She also works to promote Polish cinema in France through academic partnerships (as a programming assistant for the 2025 French edition of the Kinopolska Polish Film Festival, leading film clubs, etc.).
Teodora Doncheva
Teodora Stoilova - Doncheva, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Art Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Research fields: film studies, documentary films, Bulgarian cinema, Women directors in XX century. Author of the books: ‘The Discreet Charm of Advertising’ (2016) and ‘Bulgarian Post-Totalitarian Documentary Cinema. Approach, Trends, Filmmakers, Films, Analyses’ (2021). Former lecturer at the New Bulgarian University. Scriptwriter and producer of feature and documentary films. In her work, she always features women as the protagonists and describes issues related to their lives.
Charlotte Ducos
Charlotte Ducos has 20 years' experience in international film distribution and production. A graduate of the École nationale supérieure de cinéma La Fémis in distribution, she has worked as a film heritage programmer in Paris for Carlotta Films, then as a communications project manager in Hong Kong and production manager in Strasbourg and currently as Head of Industry at SWISS FILMS. An alumna of the Locarno Documentary Summer School (2004) and EURODOC (2023), Charlotte is passionate about promoting documentaries made by female directors. She is co-founder of LORELEY FILMS, a non-profit organisation promoting European women directors in documentary cinema.