Bigger than Barbie (Bigger than Barbie)

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Bigger than Barbie
Original title	Bigger than Barbie
Type	Documentaries
Director	Tina Davis
Short summary	In South Africa, a small group of women from the townships around Cape Town are changing their lives, and exciting people all over the world by making colourful beaded dolls. In Bigger than Barbie we follow the women behind the beading project, Monkeybiz and their fight to overcome poverty and HIV/AIDS through contemporary art. We also join the dolls on a fascinating journey from the township Khayelitsha to Donna Karan’s high fashion store on Madison Avenue. From the fashion world of New York, the dolls travel to participate at the Mandela concert for HIV/Aids in Norway on their quest to become Bigger than Barbie. The film includes appearances from Desmond Tutu, Donna Karan, Annie Lennox and Nelson Mandela. .
Summary	When Tina Davis first saw the colourful and quirky Monkeybiz dolls in a friends’ house four years ago, she fell in love immediately. Back then she didn’t know anything about who made the dolls or where they came from. A few months later she came across the dolls in a shop. It was only then that she learnt about the non-profit organisation, Monkeybiz and their amazing work combining arts and empowerment for women from the poorest townships in Cape Town, South Africa. After her first visit to Cape Town in late 2002, she was convinced that the fascinating story of Monkeybiz and their invaluable work could be made into an uplifting and heartfelt documentary. We follow the dolls on a fascinating journey from the township of Khayelitsha to the high-end stores of Donna Karan in New York. The film also takes you to Tromsø, “the land of the midnight sun” in the far north of Norway, where Monkeybiz had an exhibition in connection with the 46664 Arctic concert for HIV/AIDS in 2005. The strong and admirable women behind Monkeybiz are at the heart of Bigger than Barbie. The film also includes appearances from Desmond Tutu, Donna Karan, Annie Lennox and Nelson Mandela.
D.O.P	Gunnhild Westhagen Magnor, Joachim Håge, Adam Asmal
Editor	Hilde Bjørnstad
Sound	Yasser Booley; Erling Rein
Producer	Thomas Robsahm, Tina Davis
Production company	Speranza Film as \| Øvre Foss 14 \| N-0555 Oslo tel: +47 22 38 03 90 \| fax: +47 22 38 03 91 speranza @ speranza.no \| www.speranza.no
Country of origin	Norway
Release date (national)	2006-11
Technical information
Format	DIGIBETA
Colour	Colour
Length in min's	52
Festival participation	2007 Scandinavian Film Festival, LA 2007 Festival Int'l de Films de Femmes Créteil, France 2007 Amandus, Lillehammer, Norway 2007 Amandus, Lillehammer, Norway 2007 Kontakt - Ukranian Documentary Film Festival 2007 Alota Film festival, South Africa San Francisco Arts Film Festival, USA 2007 Flying Broom International Women's Film Festival, Turkey 2007 Woman makes Waves Film Festival, Taiwan 2007 Terre des Femmes Film Festival, Tübingen, Germany
URL	http://www.biggerthanbarbie.com

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Director biography:
Director Tina Davis Tina Davis (born in Norway in 1970) has worked as a director and producer since 1997. She studied television and film at the University of Westminster from 1993 – 1996. After this she worked for NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation) as a researcher, TV journalist and director. Since then she has made documentaries and other productions from about 16 different countries. From 2000 – 2002 she was head of Strix Television, which was Norway’s biggest TV production company at the time. Ms Davis has also been a documentary teacher at the International Film and Television School in Cuba during 2000 – 2003. She is currently directing the international documentary series, Modern Slavery for Speranza Film in Norway, as well as developing new documentary projects.