For our english speaking friends:

Nobody’s doll

In the course of debating # Metoo calls for equal rights increased. But I sorely missed one aspect. The pressure upon women still to be way too skinny, eternally young and flawless.
As actresses, we like to think of ourselves as modern-day, feminist women, but when it comes to red carpets, we seem to have to forget most of the feminism. Equal rights still hasn't reached red carpets. On the contrary: The prevalent image of women (and men) at festival openings, premieres and award ceremonies still looks like from the 50s.

Women squeeze into tight skirts, show cleavage, balance on high heels while men try hard to appear casually masculine and show off their workout results.

But it's way easier for men. If you've had the chance of going through a premiere night in heels and robe, or suit and sneakers respectively, you know the difference.

Women push themselves into things that are neither comfortable nor convenient. Things we think we have to do in order to please the general, invisible spectator. And that spectator still happens to be a man.

We still let the male gaze define what's attractive. A gaze, that is perpetuated nowadays by both, men and women, of course.

But aren't we really a couple of steps ahead? All we need to do is take the same liberties we took in everyday life, and show the world that's watching red carpets and concluding what's attractive.

What women does is what makes her attractive – not what you can do with her. We define ourselves by the paths we choose, not by being a statue you can put on a shelf.
We're artists, not dolls.

This is not a call for dressing down and going in rags. I love fashion. I love beautiful women, I love beautiful men. I love myself when I'm beautiful. This is a call to make your own beauty shine, not put it in a cage of conventions and imaginary rules. But that's only possible if we widen the scope. Do we really feel well on heels? Does a woman always need to wear make-up? And is there really only one kind of guy that we want to get shown as attractive in the movies?

When an actress wants to watch awesome films and have get into interesting conversations and doesn't want to be bothered with styling, that could be just as glamourous as being seen at three parties in three different outfits. Maybe even more.

All women that I talked to about this initiative went: Phew, that's overdue! Men reacted in more diverse ways. Some, like my brother Dietrich or the Lass Brothers, immediately got the point. Others, directors too, said: But why, just wear something else.
Yeah, no problem. Then I'm quirky Anna, always sticking. That's my personal spleen.

But I'm not after a personal spleen, but a political dimension. This is about what makes a woman (and a man) attractive. And this is not just about me, but also my friends and colleagues, this is also about a doctor in Amsterdam or a teenage girl in Warsaw. This is about us as women – and men, too.

From this Berlinale on, we will widen the range of what's "allowed" to be worn on a red carpet. We'll widen it into every direction. We'll overstate and understate. We're delighted about everybody who joins in, uses the hashtag and independently decides what makes him or her beautiful. We'll have fun. Starting now, not stopping anytime soon.

Reclaim definition. We're many, we're clever, we’re not afraid and we're # nobodysdoll .

P.s. This was written last november, in a rush and with fury. Now, three months and lots of discussions later, I feel one more thing is important: This is not about excluding other women. We should reach out to each other, not point our finges at each other. Too much of the latter has been done and is still being done. This is an invitiation to everybody to take the liberty that is lying right ahead of us. This is a request for more, for the other, for inclusion. It's not about blaming or shaming others. mermaid off shoulder wedding dress

P.s. This was written last november, in a rush and with fury. Now, three months and lots of discussions later, I feel one more thing is important: This is not about excluding other women. We should reach out to each other, not point our finges at each other. Too much of the latter has been done and is still being done. This is an invitiation to everybody to take the liberty that is lying right ahead of us. This is a request for more, for the other, for inclusion. It's not about blaming or shaming others.

Anna Brüggemann
Kirsten Niehuus
Lavinia Wilson
Franziska Weisz
Amelie Kiefer
Pheline Roggan
Mala Emde
Rosalie Thomass
Sanam Afrashteh
Alina Levshin
Luise Heyer
Anneke Kim Sarnau
Sarah Bauerett
Maryam Zareeh
Monika Anna Wojtyllo
Thelma Buabeng
Anjorka Strechel
Tom Lass
Dietrich Brüggemann
Jakob Lass
Jasmila Zbanic
Barbara Albert
Heike-Melba Fendel
Sven Taddicken
Lasse Myhr
Esther Perbandt
Pola Beck
Isabell Šuba
Irene von Alberti
Angelina Maccarone
Philipp Eichholtz
Jonas Rothlaender