MY YEAR OF DICKS with Pamela Ribon & Sara Gunnarsdóttir

Welcome to our March episode of the rePROFilm podcast. It’s Women’s History Month, and it’s also Oscars month, and we are SO excited to speak with two Academy Award-nominated filmmakers in this episode! 

Our theme this month is virginity - the conversations we have about it, the cultural taboos, the societal expectations, the ridiculous gender expectations, and why, when it comes to sexuality and youth, focusing on healthy communication rather than shame or fear-based messaging, is perhaps a better way forward. 

And what a better and more effective way to share messaging, than in film. In this month’s rePRO Periodical we are highlighting a short film called ‘My Year of Dicks’, which is an Academy Award contender for Best Short Animated Film, written and created by Pamela Ribon and directed by Sara Gunnarsdóttir. 

It’s based on Pamela’s 2014 memoir, “Notes to Boys (and Other Things I Shouldn’t Share in Public)” which documents her resolution to lose her virginity as a 15-year-old in 1991 while growing up on the outskirts of Houston. The film is broken down into 5 chapters and five different awkward sexual encounters, with some kinda douchey guys. Style-wise, it’s giving me 90’s MTV vibes - with a moody, grunge soundtrack, a mixture of real film footage of a teenage Pamela, and some bold yet sensitive animation from Sara. 

Now if you aren’t familiar with the names Pamela Ribon and Sara Gunnarsdóttir, you definitely know their work. Pamela is a writer, best known for her work on Disney’s Moana and Ralph Breaks the Internet. She’s a best-selling novelist, and co-host of the podcast Listen To Sassy, a weekly deep-dive through every issue of Sassy Magazine. 

Sara is a director and artist from Iceland who has created animation, music videos, and original artwork for film and television, including Marielle Heller’s debut feature “The Diary of a Teenage Girl,” and HBO’s Emmy-nominated “The Case Against Adnan Sayed.” She is one of 3 Icelandic artists nominated in various categories at the Academy Awards this year, and in keeping with Women’s History Month, Sara is the first Icelandic female director to be nominated for an Oscar! 

We hope you will enjoy this conversation filled with sexual innuendos, lots of giggles, and a powerful conversation about how we dismantle harmful ideas around virginity. Take a listen to our interview! 

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Learn more at reprofilm.org or follow us at @reprofilm. The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!