Video Interview: Lissette Feliciano (Women is Losers) – 2021 SXSW Film Festival

Writer/director Lissette Feliciano’s debut feature, Women is Losers —named after the Janis Joplin song—is an exuberant seminar on feminist history that challenges both gender roles and cinematic preconceptions. The film follows the plucky catholic schoolgirl Celina (brilliant Lorenza Izzo) through her coming-of-age in 60’s San Francisco, where she faces many adversities—most of them painful symptoms of the patriarchy.

As the film begins, our protagonist immediately breaks the fourth wall, à la The Big Short, in the first of many informative and hilarious asides to the camera. Whether educating viewers on Japanese immigrants or issuing a frank apology for indie-budget set decoration, Feliciano’s voice shines through clearly. An inter-generational tale of misogyny and resilience, this film might have felt heavy-handed in the wrong hands—but Feliciano delivers a lyrical playfulness. It’s hard to resist her message.

In our interview below, we discuss how she leans into anachronism in order to sell her period-story, how her scrappy production came together, and what lessons she hopes people will glean from her film (which she ultimately envisions as a TV series).