ELAHA

What remains is a relentless urge for self-determination.

SYNOPSIS

A naked young woman is standing in front of a running washing machine. Flashback. 22-year-old Elaha tries all that she can to recover a supposed “innocence” that she has lost through sex. A plastic surgeon is set to help her. But she cannot come up with the money for the costly procedure. While looking for an alternative, she comes across a special product – a capsule of artificial blood. But what at first seems to be a solution to her problem ultimately forces her into self-exploitation.

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

“The history of women’s sexuality is a history of male narratives about female bodies. So I was not surprised, when I came across the product VirginiaCare. The product is designed to help women feign their supposed “virginity” using so-called blood capsules (in fact, the hymen is frequently misrepresented as a tissue that seals the vaginal opening. In most women it is instead a mucosal tissue that surrounds the vaginal opening). Many cosmetic surgery clinics also offer costly procedures to reconstruct the hymen (not even half of all women bleed after their first penetrative sexual intercourse). Is a product such as VirginiaCare or the reconstruction of the hymen by a plastic surgeon not objectionable? After all, these things fuel misconceptions that put massive pressure on the women who are affected. At the same time, measures such as these often represent the only way out that these women have left. An ethical balancing act. It is my opinion that for as long as these patriarchal structures do not change, the women affected have no other choice than to have their “virginity” reconstructed. ELAHA is a story about an untamed woman, representing a lot of young women who are looking for identity, sexuality and belonging, and who commit to never being silent.”

– Milena Aboyan

CAST / TEAM

FILM STILLS GALLERY

MAKING OF GALLERY

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