Decolonial feminist aesthetics and sensibilities in filmmaking

In this article, we explore two feminist films from a decolonial perspective: Forty Days of Silence (2014) directed by Uzbek visual artist/filmmaker Saodat Ismailova and Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (2023) made by Estonian filmmaker Anna Hints. We selected these films because we are affectively and corporeally linked to them through our roots in Central Asia and Estonia respectively and because these films connect the decolonial and the postsocialist in enriching ways for the current discussions on decolonial feminisms in the postcommunist world. Despite their very different historical imperial-colonial trajectories these regions share the Soviet and post-socialist experience and the specific strategies of coping with these dependencies.Through a close thematic and cinematic analysis, we suggest that while the two authors draw on different cultural practices and ideological and imperial/colonial intersections, they overlap in their interpretation of decolonial healing through focus on matristic rituals. We argue that rethinking of narrative/script conventions, improvisation and development of specific decolonial feminist cinematic gaze through alterations in ordinary camera work are crucial elements of feminist artmaking that contribute to decolonizing worldings.