Viva La Vulva is a love song to a part of us that doesn’t get enough love.
Set to the iconic track ‘Take Yo’ Praise’ by Camille Yarbrough, it’s a lip-sync music video with a twist, featuring hundreds of vulvas of every shape and colour, all singing loud and proud to the equally diverse women who love them back.
The film subverts multiple taboos around the vulva on the way: celebrating conch shells, messy oysters, juicy fruits, embracing the much-shamed camel-toe, and even Barbie makes a cameo, outraged she doesn’t have a vulva.
The film ends on behind the scene interviews of the cast, opening up about the issue, the shame, the ignorance and reclaiming their bodies.
Cultural / Context information for the jury
For centuries vulvas have been censored, objectified, and erased altogether in the name of ‘decency’. Meanwhile the recent explosion of porn has pressurised young women to believe their genitals should look a certain way: the myth of the ‘perfect’ vulva.
As a result, almost half of women feel embarrassed by their vulva, 7/10 don’t know what normal looks like, many demand a ‘designer vagina’ (labiaplasty is the fastest growing cosmetic surgery in the world), or avoid cervical cancer tests out of embarrassment.
The intimate care category has historically been so clinical and euphemistic that it enforced these taboos - many women buy and use the products in shame, like a dirty secret.
Tell the jury anything relevant about the direction. Do not name the director.
Viva la vulva uses a diverse mixed media approach to represent vulvas in all their beautiful diversity, and direction was critical to the tone of the piece and balance of these elements. Combining live action and animation directing, the challenge was to draw out nuanced and heartfelt performances from 16 actors, 450 vulvas using multiple animation techniques, across 45 scenes, all to a track.