Girls starting to stir things up

Daniela Sea is a real sweetheart. She seems like the sort of person you could have a nice yarn with over a beer.

Known mostly for her role as Max Sweeny, the transiting female-to-male in The L Word, Sea is promoting the release of the rebellious Itty Bitty Titty Committee, a political coming of age story inspired by the riot grrl punk rock movement.

The film centres on Anna, who is wandering aimlessly until she meets the politically charged Sadie. Sadie is part of a radical feminist organisation called the CIA, or the more attention-grabbing Clits in Action, who push their feminist message through public stunts.

The group is trying to change the world but is continually sidelined by its members who seem more interested in pursuing sexual conquests than tearing down the patriarchy.

The film wears its heart on its sleeve, and its feminist message is still important. So is its homage
to the early ’90s riot grrl movement.

The soundtrack of the film is arguably its strongest point, with tracks from Le Tigre, Peaches, Heavens to Betsy, Sleater-Kinney and Bikini Kill.

Sea plays a relatively small role in the film, Calvin, a returned former military soldier with a love of pyrotechnics and seducing women.

She was approached at a party when director Jamie Babbit spotted her across the room.
Babbit was not alone in her love for the riot grrl movement. Sea was also inspired by the underground music swell when she was a teenager.
Those girls came along and it was a big deal, it stirred things up.

I think it had a lot to do with my coming out -” but to come out in that time was pretty great.
Sea understands the circus of fame.

I don’t necessarily go partying at all the lesbian clubs, but I didn’t do that anyway. I more hang out at music festivals or radical women’s conferences.

But I love our people and I’m proud to be queer so I don’t have a bad attitude about it.
Babbit says she was inspired to make the film about the riot grrl movement because it was a love affair for a time I went through.

I wanted to make a movie exploring that time in my life, but of course it’s great if it inspires a new generation to get involved in politics, she said over the phone.

What I love about the riot girls is that they didn’t care if you can play instruments or not, they just played them. It’s not important if you’re good, it’s just important to do it.

One of the more interesting themes of the film is its take on gay marriage -” namely opposing it.

You can’t bring down the master’s house with the master’s tools, says one character in the film, a view Babbit said she was convinced of by a friend.

The idea comes from a good friend of mine, who lives in Berlin, and a lot of lesbians in Berlin are really anti-marriage -” they just consider marriage very conservative.