A new trailer for the hilarious feminist movie ‘Galaxy 360: A Woman’s Playground’ has just been released. The film satirises a distant future where women rule the world and men are their playthings. Anna Fishbeyn directs and stars in the film, which is set in the year 2195. The story revolves around a beauty pageant for men, as we see them primp and preen, compete with one another, stress about being fat, practice for their talent show, and interact with Illumina, the flamboyant media personality and hostess of the Mr World Beauty Pageant. A dystopian romance emerges between Illumina and one of the contestants, and we are confronted with questions about love, sex and fairness in 2195.
Anna Fishbeyn is an actress, comedian, writer and film director, and the founder of XOFeminist Productions and Anteriya Films. The idea for ‘Galaxy 360: A Woman’s Playground’ first came to Anna when she was up late at night breastfeeding her newborn son, watching TV shows jam-packed with commercials targeting women’s appearances and encouraging them to look younger.
She said: “It wasn’t simply that the commercials talked about wrinkles, but the whole female face was split into sections: frown lines, crow’s feet and saggy cheeks. The weight-loss commercials were even worse. Every diet pill had endless side effects that were dangerous for women’s health. And even if you were young and skinny, there was the problem of the ‘blah’ body versus the perfectly toned body. In one infomercial, a woman announced after spending hours on a treadmill: ‘I’m not ashamed of my body anymore and now my husband is finally attracted to me again!’”
Anna had just given birth, was sleep-deprived, struggling to lose the baby weight, taking care of two small children in diapers, and now she had to worry about toned muscles? “Even late at night I couldn’t escape the pressure cooker that is our society’s obsession with women’s looks,” she said.
First she got angry, but then a new thought occurred to her: what if we inverted our world and sent it to the future? “I didn’t feel the need to go to the gym in that moment,” said Anna, “I felt the need to make a movie that would tell men to go to the gym!”
Within days, she had completed the first draft of a screenplay about a beauty pageant for men, set in a future world run by women. In Galaxy 360, women no longer talk about their looks, they talk about their own pleasure. Meanwhile the men worry about looking hotter, younger, and thinner, and getting married – hopefully to a woman with power and money.
In this movie, men are playthings to be used and discarded. They are referred to only by the ‘Districts’ they are from, just nameless bodies to parade around in their underwear. In a society that only cares about the rich and powerful, there are no consequences for bad behaviour. The film mocks our world and our obsession with looks, and lets us experience the world from each other’s point of view. “Who knew feminism could be so funny?” Anna laughs.
‘Galaxy 360: A Woman’s Playground’ has an industry screening during the Cannes Film Festival on 23 May, at 1pm at the Eden Hotel, 133 Rue d’Antibes, 06400 Cannes. Afterwards there will be a Q&A with the director, a reception and party.
Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJC79Jehc7M&t=2s
