Not a Man in Sight (Ingen man i sikte)

The first open generation of lesbian women is soon to be gone. These are women who fought for their rights and created a cultural identity. Now they are being replaced by new generations with a different approach to identity and lifestyle. Some have established families identical to the ones that the feminists once wanted to demolish; others again have left the whole idea of sexual identity favoring a more floating view on who they are and how they want to live, love and be loved.

In this film we follow three groups of women – on different stages in their life and love life.

The young woman in search of her emotional and visual expression of her sexual identity, feeling like a heterosexual boy, falling in love with a lesbian girl.

The married, “nine to five” couple with children, the conventional in the unconventional, discussing their gender roles in a same- gender relation when it comes to sharing a child.

And the ageing couple fighting with cancer and remembering the past, dreaming of sunset on Lesbos…

The film is from the director Mette Aakerholm Gardells point of view. The frame is her longing for motherhood and at the same time processing a hidden feeling of shame. Actually she doesn’t feel like other lesbians. She feels lost in a lesbian identity. She wants to be a part of the norm, but at the same time she wants to feel special and different. She start asking herself questions and turn her camera to others lesbians: How do we find our role models when nothing is given by tradition?

To fall outside a social norm can be a challenge – in both positive and negative ways. It’s strength and a limitation.

This film is about how endlessly complex we are as human beings. In the end it’s about how we can make this life easier to live for all of us.

Join Mette Aakerholm Gardell in a Q & A after the film.

As a documentary film director Not a Man In Sight (org.title Ingen Mann i sikte 2012) is Aakerholm Gardell's second film for TV and film festivals.

Her last film Daddy’s Love (org. title Min stolte far, 2007) won the Audience Award at the Norwegian Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and have travelled around the world, from New York to South Korea.

Earlier she made travel documentaries and award winning short documentary series for television. Also award winners.

Her topics are often identity. Group identity and how we relate to each other.

Her strength is - never takes anything for granted and always question why we exist and how we live our lives.

Aakerholm Gardell is a teacher in film and also soon to become an Integrative Therapist. She has created SKAPARVÄRKET, mentorship and therapy for the documentary film industry and the participators in films.