A MAZE. / Berlin 2016

For those who still think that video games are only aimed at teenage boys the time has finally come to rethink your judgement! In reality, you would be surprised to know that there are more female players than male players. Even more surprising, they don’t spend their entire time playing Candy Crush! It’s a fact that the majority of video games protagonists are male and that female protagonists, when they exist, tend to fall in one of these highly stereotypical categories: damsel in distress, sexy lady, hot girl with big boobs and big guns… And, yes, evidently mainstream video games can be extremely sexists. However, even though they seem stuck between developers who assume that the heterosexual male teen demographic is the only one that matters, and the marketing geniuses who relish the opportunity make more money by creating games only aimed girls, women are fighting back to reclaim their space.  From female gamers to female developers, “Les filles aux manettes " (literally Girls hold the controls) gives a voice to women in the video game industry.

About the director:

Sonia Gonzalez is a journalist and filmmaker. In 2011, after a few years spent working as an Assistant Director in Berlin and Paris, she becomes a collaborative fellow for a year at a Center for Documentary Arts in Brooklyn and directs her first short-film “Desperately Seeking Stagg Girls”. Her passion for feminist issues, counter-cultures and the history of indie rock music, leads her in 2014 to contribute to the writing of a documentary “Princesses, Pop Stars and Girl Power” directed by Cécile Denjean. In 2015, she directs her first 52-minute documentary ”Revolution Riot Grrrl Style” and its accompanying web series “Des filles et des zines”.