¡Adelante Mujeres!
A film by National Women's History Project
Spanning five centuries, this comprehensive video, produced by the National Women's History Project, focuses exclusively on the history of Mexican-American/Chicana women-from the Spanish invasion to the present. Hundreds of previously unpublished photographs, art works, and contemporary footage pay tribute to the strength and resilience of women at the center of their families, as activists in their communities, and as contributors to American history. More.

Amazonia
A film by Nandini Sikand
In this highly personal and visually evocative testimonial, critically acclaimed South Asian filmmaker Nandini Sikand poignantly presents her sister’s triumphal recovery from the emotional and physical scars of breast cancer. Lyrically incorporating poetry, experimental video and Super-8 montage, this moving piece looks at the myth of Amazonian women – warriors who were said to have cut off their right breast to become better archers – and compares their legendary battles to the war being waged against breast cancer. More.

Recommended Subject Areas Latina
    Visual Arts
    Experimental Film

Ana Mendieta
A film by Kate Horsfield, Nereyda Garcia-Ferraz, and Branda Miller,
This beautiful video is a portrait of the life and work of Cuban-born American artist Ana Mendieta. Mendieta used her own body, the raw materials of nature, and Afro-Cuban religion to express her feminist political consciousness and poetic vision. Interview footage with Mendieta and her own filmed records of her earthworks and performances are incorporated to render a vivid testament to her energy and extraordinary talent after her tragic, untimely death in 1985. Spanish language version available. More.
 

Recommended Subject Areas
    Post-Colonialism
    Africa
    Global Feminism
    Military

 

Angola Is Our Country
A film by Jenny Morgan
Angolan women are rarely heard describing the impact of South Africa’s undeclared war against their country. This moving documentary, produced in conjunction with the Organization of Angolan Women (OMA), highlights the contribution women make to the reconstruction of a country where war has consumed more than half the national budget and produced at least a million internal refugees. More.

Artist
A film collaboration between Tracey Moffatt and Gary Hillberg
Internationally acclaimed photographer and filmmaker Tracey Moffatt takes the viewer on a fast-paced journey through Hollywood's depiction of the artist. Using a wealth of clips from classic cinema bio pics and popular television sitcoms, the video voyage spans centuries of art and art-making to reveal how five decades of mainstream media have perceived the creative process and creators themselves. A lively music track underscores the fervor and passion we have come to associate with artists and their typical one-dimensional representations on the large and small screen. More.

As I Remember It
A Portrait of Dorothy West
A film by Salem Mekuria
This intimate portrait of writer Dorothy West explores the forgotten role of women in the Harlem Renaissance. From the perspective of her 83 years, the still active writer relates her memories of growing up African American, privileged and enthralled by literature. Archival footage and photographs, interviews and excerpts from her autobiographical novel, THE LIVING IS EASY, capture West’s fascinating story. More.

Recommended Subject Areas
        Cinema Studies
    Australia/New Zealand
    Film History
    Motherhood

The Audition
A film by Anna Campion
The filmmaker's sister, Jane Campion, journeys home to New Zealand to audition her onetime actress mother for a small role as a schoolteacher in her film adaptation of Janet Frame's autobiographies, AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE. The mother is somewhat resistant to the role, the camera and what she perceives as her daughter's manipulation. The daughter has her own resistance-to her mother's dark vision of the world. This deceptively simple drama, filmed with elegance and restraint, reveals nuances of mother/daughter roles while challenging the realist aesthetic. More.

Recommended Subject Areas
       Asian American
       Lesbian
       Mass Media & Popular Culture
       Young Women
       Cinema Studies
       Experimental Film
       Video Art
       Psychology
       Sexuality
 

The Basement Girl
A film by Midi Onodera
Abandoned by her lover, a young woman finds comfort and safety in her basement apartment.  Mundane routines, a diet of junk food and the warmth of the television insulate her from the pain and betrayal of her ill-fated relationship.  Eventually,  The Basement Girl emerges—transformed and ready to "make it on her own".   This latest film by Midi Onodera (Ten Cents a Dance, Skin Deep) breaks new cinematic territory by employing multiple formats from traditional 16mm film to toy cameras including a modified Nintendo Game Boy digital camera and the Intel Mattel computer microscope. More.

B.D. Women
A film by Inge Blackman
This celebration of the history and culture of Black lesbians features interviews with Black women talking candidly about their sexual and racial identities interwoven with a dramatized love story set in the 1920s, in which a sultry romance develops between a gorgeous jazz singer and her stylish butch lover. More.
 

Beyond Black and White
A film by Nisma Zaman
BEYOND BLACK AND WHITE is a personal exploration of the filmmaker’s bicultural heritage (Caucasian and Asian/Begali) in which she relates her experiences to those of five other women from various biracial backgrounds. In lively interviews and group discussions these women reveal how they have been influenced by images of women in American media, how racism has affected them, and how their families and environments have shaped their racial identities. Their experiences are placed within the context of history, including miscegenation laws and governmental racial classifications. BEYOND BLACK AND WHITE is a remarkable celebration of diversity in American society. More.

 

Recommended Subject Areas
      Cinema Studies
    Experimental Film
    Psychology
    Mental Health
 

Beyond Voluntary Control
A film by Cathy Cook
Acclaimed filmmaker Cathy Cook (THE MATCH THAT STARTED MY FIRE) breaks new cinematic territory by devising a new visual language that explores the psychological and emotional effects of physical confinement in her latest film BEYOND VOLUNTARY CONTROL. Stimulating the senses through haunting and poetic images, the film imaginatively conveys the obsessions, phobias and illnesses constricting personal freedom. While lyrically meditating on the limits of the body, Cook incorporates the evocative movements of modern dancer, David Figueroa, and blends a mesmerizing soundtrack set to the poems of Emily Dickinson and Sharon Olds to humanize and reconcile the effects of physical metamorphosis and stasis. More.

Beyond Imagining: Margaret Anderson & the Little Review
A film by Wendy Weinberg
Bold literary visionary Margaret Anderson founded the journal Little Review in 1914, an overlooked but profound influence on American literature. Anderson introduced writers such as Gertrude Stein, Emma Goldman, Djuna Barnes and Ezra Pound, and went to trial for publishing excerpts from James Joyce's new work, ULYSSES. Immersed in her own pointed, charismatic writings, this engrossing profile follows Anderson's inspiring life and travels. Anderson resisted censorship, meager finances and mediocrity in her unflagging search for literary enchantment; this film reveals her life to be her greatest creation. More.

 

Black, Bold and Beautiful: Black Women's Hair
A film by Nadine Valcin and Produced by Jennifer Kawaja & Julia Sereny
Afros, braids or corn rows--hairstyles have always carried a social message, and few issues cause as many battles between black parents and their daughters. To "relax" one's hair into straight tresses or to leave it "natural" inevitably raises questions of conformity and rebellion, pride and identity. Today, trend-setting teens happily reinvent themselves on a daily basis, while career women strive for the right "professional" image, and other women go "natural" as a symbol of comfort in their Blackness. More.

Black Women of Brazil
A film by Silvana Afram
Despite official jargon to the contrary, Brazilians live in a racially segregated class system. This upbeat, sensitive and elegantly composed documentary, produced by Lilith Video Collective, looks at the ways Black women have coped with racism while validating their lives through their own music and religion. More.

Blind Spot: Murder by Women
A film by Irving Saraf, Allie Light &
Julia Hilder
From the Academy® and Emmy®-award winning filmmakers responsible for DIALOGUES WITH MADWOMEN, this provocative and riveting film taps the memories, fantasies, dreams, anger, and coping strategies of six women who candidly describe their actions as perpetrators in taking a life.  This is an indispensable work about throw-away children, out-of-control adults, and the emotional, psychological and spiritual consequences of murder. More.

The Blonds (Los Rubios)
A film by Albertina Carri and Produced by Barry Ellsworth
Crossing the line between documentary and fiction filmmaking, Carri enlists an actor, her parents’ former comrades, fading photographs and happy Playmobil dolls to investigate her parents’ untimely end. In the end, merging fact, rumor and imagination, Carri succeeds in reconstructing both her parent’s history and her own construction of them. Emotionally fraught and intellectually provocative, THE BLONDS has resonance far beyond the tragic history of Argentina’s dirty war. More.
 

The Body of a Poet
A Tribute to Audre Lorde
A film by Sonali Fernando
An imaginary biopic, THE BODY OF A POET centers on the efforts of a group of young lesbians of color to devise a fitting tribute to one of this century's great visionaries. Its genre-bending celebration of the life and work of Audre Lorde, black lesbian poet and political activist, daringly meshes diverse media conventions and techniques as it explores Lorde's trajectory from birth to death. Refreshing and visually stunning, this brave film features assured acting by a dedicated cast and a taut script comprising the work of contemporary African American lesbian poets. More.
 

Brincando El Charco
Portrait of a Puerto Rican
A film by Frances Negrón-Muntaner
In a wonderful mix of fiction, archival footage, processed interviews, and soap opera drama, BRINCANDO EL CHARCO tells the story of Claudia Marin, a middle-class, light-skinned Puerto Rican photographer/ videographer as she attempts to construct a sense of community in the U.S. Confronting the simultaneity of her privilege and her oppression, this film becomes a meditation on the social constructs of class, race, and sexuality. More.
 

Recommended Subject Areas
    African American
    History
    Music & Performance

 

...But Then, She's Betty Carter
A film by Michelle Parkerson
This unforgettable portrait of legendary vocalist Betty Carter, one of the greatest living exponents of jazz, captures Carter's musical genius, her paradoxical relationship with the public, and her fierce dedication to personal and artistic independence: uncompromised by commercialism, she founded her own recording company and raised two sons as a single parent. More.

Canto a la Vida
(Song to Life)
A film by Lucia Salinas Briones
CANTO A LA VIDA illuminates exile through the remarkable stories of Chilean women, including the assassinated president’s widow Hortensia de Allende, their niece, author Isabel Allende, and folk singer Isabel Parra. In this powerful exploration of cultural displacement, language loss and personal dislocation, seven different women discuss their altered notions of home, work and daily life. Moving testimonies are underscored by archival footage, paintings, songs and memories. Since Pinochet’s ouster in 1989, many Chileans have journeyed back to their birthplace, and are now faced with the difficult decision of whether to remain in Chile or return to their adoptive countries. Filmmaker Briones, who herself left Chile in 1986, presents a beautiful, unforgettable testament to life in exile. More.

 

Recommended Subject Areas
    Lesbian
    Young Women
    Experimental Film
    Sexuality
    Family Relations
 

Closer
Directed by Tina Gharavi
An experimental documentary which has at its heart a poignant character study of a 17 year-old lesbian living in Newcastle, England, CLOSER innovatively explores the process of documentary filmmaking and boldly challenges traditional forms of storytelling. Produced without a script and in close collaboration with the subject, Annelise Rodger, the filmmaker presents a hypnotizing array of montages and fictive sequences to introduce the day-to-day happenings of this extraordinary person. More.

The Cinematic Jazz of Julie Dash
A film by Yvonne Welbon
From her innovative short works to her critically acclaimed feature debut DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST, the films of Julie Dash have broken new cinematic ground and redefined black women's images on screen. In this wide-ranging interview, Dash talks about her background, development and approach to movie making, as well as the struggles, victories and interdependence of African American women filmmakers. Excerpts from early films and Daughters of the Dust, the dramatic feature about different generations of South Carolina sea islanders which has thrilled audiences across the nation, underscore the originality of this immensely gifted artist. More.
 

Columbus on Trial
A film by Lourdes Portillo
Inspired by the controversy surrounding the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s “discovery” of America, Lourdes Portillo has fashioned a fanciful version of a courtroom were Columbus to return from his grave to stand trial. Cross-examined by the Latino comedy group Culture Clash, Columbus is charged with atrocities against the Native peoples of the New World. More.

Conjure Women
A film by Demetria Royals and Produced by Louise Diamond
CONJURE WOMEN is an exciting performance-based documentary exploring the artistry and philosophy of four African American female artists.Four artists use their disciplines to reclaim their 'africanisms', a intuitive experience of what their foreparents had to deny if they were to survive. CONJURE WOMEN is a moving and entertaining record of the work of these remarkable women. It is also, as filmmaker Demetria Royals notes, "telling the story of African Americans in our own distinct and self-defined voices." More.
 

Conversations Across the Bosphorous
A film by Jeanne C. Finley in collaboration with Mine Y. Ternar, Gokcen Hava Art, and Pelin Esmer
CONVERSATIONS ACROSS THE BOSPHOROUS intertwines the stories of two Muslim women from Istanbul - Gokcen, from an orthodox Islamic family who takes off her veil after years of struggle; and Mine, from a secular family, who discovers her faith living as an immigrant in San Francisco. Both women demonstrate how their relationship to their faith has shaped and determined their personal lives. Combining evocative visual imagery with poetic and lively debate, CONVERSATIONS ACROSS THE BOSPHOROUS provides a deeper understanding of Turkish society and the current tensions between fundamentalist and secular forces. More.
 

The Desert Is No Lady
A film by Shelley Williams in collaboration with Susan Palmer
With provocative imagery and spirited juxtapositions, THE DESERT IS NO LADY looks at the Southwest through the eyes of its leading contemporary women artists and writers, including author Sandra Cisneros. The nine women profiled are Pat Mora (poet), Sandra Cisneros (writer), Lucy Tapahonso (poet), Emmi Whitehorse (painter), Harmony Hammond (painter), Meridel Rubinstein (photographer), Nora Naranjo Morse (sculptor), Pola Lopez de Jaramillo (painter) and Ramona Sakiestewa (tapestry artist). The Southwest is a border territory - where cultures meet and mix - and the work of these nine women from Pueblo, Navajo, Mexican-American and Anglo backgrounds reflects its special characteristics. More.

DiAna's Hair Ego: AIDS Info Up Front
A film by Ellen Spiro
Realizing the extreme inadequacy of local information on AIDS prevention, cosmetologist DiAna DiAna, with her partner Dr. Bambi Sumpter, took on the task of educating the Black community in Columbia, South Carolina. This provocative, funny and informative videotape documents the growth of the South Carolina AIDS Education Network which operates out of DiAna's Hair Ego, the beauty salon where a condom display is as common as a basket of curlers! DiANA'S HAIR EGO has been used by hundreds of educational and community organizations as a model for making a difference. More.
 

A Different Image
A film by Alile Sharon Larkin
A highly-acclaimed film, A DIFFERENT IMAGE is an extraordinary poetic portrait of a beautiful young African American woman attempting to escape becoming a sex object and to discover her true heritage. Through a sensitive and humorous story about her relationship with a man, the film makes provocative connections between racism and sexual stereotyping. The screenplay of A DIFFERENT IMAGE is published in Screenplays of the African American Experience, edited by Dr. Phyllis R. Klotman. More.

 

Divine Horsemen-The Living Gods of Haiti
A film by Maya Deren
A journey into the fascinating world of the Voudoun religion edited from footage shot by Deren in Haiti. More.

Divorce Iranian Style
A film by Kim Longinotto & Ziba Mir-Hosseini
With the barest of commentary, veteran documentarian Kim Longinotto shares this hilarious, tragic, stirring, fly-on-the-wall look at several weeks in an Iranian divorce court in a film showcasing the strength, ingenuity, and guile of Iranian women. More.
 

Recommended Subject Areas
       Black Diaspora
       Family Relations
    Immigration and Exile
 

Dreaming Rivers
A Sankofa film directed by Martine Attill
From Sankofa Film and Video comes this bittersweet and nostalgic short drama illustrating the spirit of modern families touched by the experience of migration. Miss T., from the Caribbean, lives alone in her one-room apartment, her children and husband having left her to pursue new dreams. When she dies her family and friends gather at her wake. The tapestry of words that interweave the drama convey the fragments of a life lived, but only partly remembered. More.

Eat the Kimono
A film by Claire Hunt and Kim Longinotto
A brilliant documentary about Hanayagi Genshu, a Japanese feminist and avant-garde dancer and performer who has spent her life defying her conservative culture’s contempt for independence and unconventionality. She denounced Emperor Hirohito as a war criminal, and dismissed death threats made against her by right-wing groups. “You mustn’t be eaten by the kimono,” says Genshu, “You must eat the kimono.” More.
 

Recommended Subject Areas
        History
    Jewish Studies
    Experimental Film
    Holocaust Studies
 

Elida Schogt Trilogy
Films by Elida Schogt
Elida Schogt’s deeply personal trilogy of short documentaries on Holocaust memory: ZYKLON PORTRAIT (1999), THE WALNUT TREE (2000) and SILENT SONG (2001) have been screened around the globe, garnering numerous awards. More.

Recommended Subject Areas
    Jewish Studies
    Israel
    Middle East
    Masculinity
    Psychology
    Military
 

Ever Shot Anyone?
A film by Michal Aviad
Israeli filmmaker Michal Aviad provides a woman's take on how national culture is informed by male identity through the military experience that bonds her country's Jewish men. EVER SHOT ANYONE? documents Aviad's attempt to infiltrate the world of army reservists during their annual tour of duty on the Golan Heights. Gradually, but not without suspicion and hostility toward the intruder in their midst, the middle-aged civilian-soldiers reveal notions about male identity, friendship, family and gender relations. This dominant male culture through the eyes of the ultimate outsider--a woman. More.

The Female Closet
Films by Barbara Hammer
This fascinating film from renowned filmmaker Barbara Hammer combines rare footage, interviews, and rich visual documentation to survey the lives of variously closeted women artists from different segments of the 20th century: Victorian photographer Alice Austen, Weimar collagist Hannah Höch, and present day painter Nicole Eisenman. In a compelling examination of the art world’s treatment of lesbians, Hammer documents how the museum devoted to Austen ignores the implications of her crossdressing photos, how the Museum of Modern Art glossed over Höch’s sexuality in a major exhibit, and how Eisenman’s work based on patriarchal porn is described by critics as “liberating, fun, and over the top”.  More.
 

The Films of Jane Campion
Films by Jane Campion
Three lively and humorous shorts from the acclaimed director Jane Campion (THE PIANO, HOLY SMOKE) are compiled here for the first time ever in a rare collection that includes the '60s coming of age tale
A Girl’s Own Story, a series of wry vignettes in Passionless Moments, and Cannes Palme d’Or winning Peel. More.

The Films of Maya Deren
Films by Maya Deren
Maya Deren's fascinating and beautiful films are masterpieces of their era and provide an important insight into the history of the avant-garde. MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON (1943, 14 minutes), AT LAND (1944, 14 minutes, Silent), A STUDY IN CHOREOGRAPHY FOR CAMERA (1945, 3 minutes, Silent), RITUAL IN TRANSFIGURED TIME (1946, 15 minutes, Silent), MEDITATION ON VIOLENCE (1948, 13 minutes), and THE VERY EYE OF THE NIGHT (1959, 15 minutes). More.
 

For My Children
A film by Dorothy Fadiman, Daniel Meyers, and Beth Seltzer
In October 2000, as the second Palestinian Intifada erupts, Israeli filmmaker Michal Aviad begins a video exploration about both the moral and mundane dilemmas she faces every day in Tel Aviv. What begins with deceptive simplicity-a tender scene of sending the children off to school-quickly becomes a profound study of vulnerability and anxiety. Small acts like crossing the street are charged with inescapable fear. As the nightmare of violence escalates over the coming months, Michal and her husband Shimshon ask the quintessential Diaspora Jewish question, "When is it time to go?" More.

From the Back-Alleys to the Supreme Court and Beyond
A film by Dorothy Fadiman, Daniel Meyers, and Beth Seltzer
This acclaimed series provides a comprehensive look at abortion in the United States. Combining interviews and archival footage, it covers the moving story of the fight for, Supreme Court decision regarding, and current climate surrounding legalized abortion. Produced in association with KTEH-TV. More.

Golden Threads
A film by Lucy Winer and Karen Eaton
Profiling the life of 93 year old lesbian activist Christine Burton, founder of a global networking service for mid-life and elder lesbians this documentary by Lucy Winer and Karen Eaton, exuberantly overturns our most deeply rooted stereotypes and fears of aging. By adding the wry and introspective narrative of the director undergoing a mid-life crisis, the film generates a groundbreaking, intergenerational dialogue about sexuality, life choices, and aging. At a time when the media commonly sentimentalizes, dismisses or altogether ignores the old, GOLDEN THREADS offers an urgently needed antidote. GOLDEN THREADS was produced for the Independent Television Service (ITVS) with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. More.
 

The Good Wife of Tokyo
A film by Claire Hunt and Kim Longinotto
Kazuko Hohki goes back to Tokyo with her band, the Frank Chickens, after living in England for 15 years. This wry and delightful film records her re-experiencing of Japan after a long absence, examining traditional attitudes to women and those of Kazuko’s friends who are trying to live differently. More.

Guerrillas in our Midst
A film by Amy Harrison
With their witty and creative tactics, the Guerrilla Girls have changed the face of political and cultural activism.  By exposing the perpetuated myth of the heroic male painter, these "art terrorists" have succeeded at putting racism and sexism on the agenda in the art-world since 1985.  Filmmaker Amy Harrison tells the story of this fascinating group and the machinations of the commercial art-world during its boom in the 1980s. More.
 

Hair Piece
A Film for Nappy-Headed People
A film by Ayoka Chenzira
An animated satire on the question of self image for African American women living in a society where beautiful hair is viewed as hair that blows in the wind and lets you be free. Lively tunes and witty narration accompany a quick-paced inventory of relaxers, gels and curlers. Used by hundreds of groups as diverse as museums, churches, hospitals and hair stylists. More.
 

Hidden Faces
A film by Claire Hunt & Kim Longinotto
In this fascinating portrayal of Egyptian women’s lives in Muslim society, Safaa Fathay, a young Egyptian woman living in Paris, returns home to interview the famed writer and activist Nawal El Saadawi, but soon becomes disillusioned with her subject. At home, the filmmaker’s encounter with her mother’s decision to return to the veil after 20 years and her cousins’ clitoridectomies raise El Saadawi’s feminist questions in real life, in this startling, unforgettable picture of contemporary women in the Arab world. More.
 

Hidden Story
A film by Shikha Jhingan & Ranjani Mazumdar
Its title referring both to women's hidden lives and the hidden work of creating ethnographic realities, this nuanced look at the lives of four rural Indian women paints a portrait of survival and advancement against great odds. Examining the lives of women tenant farmers, it depicts women balancing resistance and activism with a deep commitment to diverse myths and traditions. As scenes of India's changing urban and rural landscapes mingle with candid interviews and first-person narration, this perceptive film showcases how issues of class, education, and political consciousness shape documentary practice and women's circumstances. More.
 

Home Away from Home
A Sankofa film directed by Maureen Blackwood
A bittersweet drama that unfolds almost without dialogue, this prize-winning short film conveys the isolation of immigrant women’s experiences. Miriam lives with her children near the airport where she works, far from her rural African roots. She constructs a beautiful mud hut in her garden, a space which takes alleviates her loneliness and teaches her daughter Fumi about her African side. More.

Honoring Our Voices
A film by Judi Jeffrey
Sharing their stories about recovery and healing, six Native women of different ages and backgrounds talk about the choices they have made to overcome the hardships of family violence and end the cycle of abuse and silence. Through the far-reaching changes in their lives, they reveal the rewards of empowering themselves and their families, as well as the strengths of counseling based in Native healing strategies and traditions. Directed by Judi Jeffrey (Metis) and produced by the Native Counselling Services of Alberta, this thought-provoking documentary is a valuable tool for education, prevention and intervention. More.
 

How Nice to See You Alive
A film by Lucia Murat
On March 31, 1964, a military coup overthrew the Brazilian government. Four years later, all civil rights were suspended and torture became a systematic practice. Using a mix of fiction and documentary this extraordinary film is a searing record of personal memory, political repression and the will to survive. Interviews with eight women who were political prisoners during the military dictatorship are framed by the fantasies and imaginings of an anonymous character, portrayed by actress Irene Ravache. Filmmaker Murat, like the interviewees, was herself tortured and imprisoned; her film shatters the silence imposed on the survivors and the collective will to forget. More.

Hózhó of Native Women
A film by Beverly R. Singer (Tewa Pueblo, Navajo)
"Five Native American Women from diverse tribal backgrounds tell moving stories, from their lives and cultural memory that concern wellness — physical, emotional, mental and spiritual — and the connection of Native women through shared experience and cultural legacy. That legacy enables them to merge traditional ways of living and healing with contemporary life in this hopeful, heartfelt, and beautiful piece. Highly recommended for classes in Women's Studies, American Studies, Diversity, and Multicultural Studies." - Jane Caputi, Florida Atlantic University Sundance Film Festival More.

Recommended Subject Areas
    History
    Racism
    Literature
    Black Diaspora
    Poetry
    Caribbean
 

I Is a Long-Memoried Woman
Produced by Ingrid Lewis, A film by Frances-Anne Solomon
This extraordinary video chronicles the history of slavery through the eyes of Caribbean women. A striking combination of monologue, dance, and song—griot-style—conveys a young African woman’s quest for survival in the new world. Based on award-winning poems by Guyanese British writer Grace Nichols, the evocatively rendered story charts abusive conditions on sugar plantations, acts of defiance and the rebellion which led to eventual freedom. Produced by a Black women’s collective, I IS A LONG-MEMORIED WOMAN illuminates Black diasporic culture and heritage. More.

In Harm's Way
A film by Jan Krawitz
IN HARM'S WAY's introductory narration sets the stage for an inquiry into societal "truths" advanced during the 1950s and the subsequent violation of the world view they established. Prompted by her adult experience as a random victim of sexual assault, the filmmaker revisits her childhood's fragile myths to examine a belief system gone awry. More.

In My Father’s House
A film by Fatima Jebli Ouazzani
In this beautiful, poetic and deeply personal film, Moroccan filmmaker Fatima Jebli Ouazzani investigates the status accorded women in Islamic marriage customs and the continuing importance of virginity. Ouazzani left her father’s house in Morocco sixteen years ago to escape the constraints her culture and its traditions have put on women. She returns now to confront those traditions, her own family and herself.  More.

Jane: An Abortion Service
A film by Kate Kirtz & Nell Lundy
This fascinating political look at a little-known chapter in women’s history tells the story of “Jane,” the Chicago-based women’s health group that performed nearly 12,000 safe illegal abortions between 1969 and 1973 with no formal medical training. Jane members describe finding feminism and clients describe finding Jane through interviews, archival footage, and re-creations that bring to life the struggle for empowerment and influence in the ’60 of this unique group. More.

Japanese American Women
A Sense of Place
A film by Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro and Leita Hagemann Luchetti
The stereotype of the polite, docile, exotic Asian woman is shattered in this documentary in which a dozen women speak about their experiences as part of the “model minority”. JAPANESE AMERICAN WOMEN explores the ambivalent feelings the women have both towards Japan and the United States. The underlying theme is the burden of being different, of being brought up “one of a kind” as opposed to growing up part of an ethnic community. An uneasy feeling prevails of being neither Japanese nor American, and the documentary ultimately becomes the story of Japanese American women and their search for a sense of place. More.

Recommended Subject Areas
  Jewish Studies
  Young Women
  Israel
  Middle East
    Anthropology

 

Jenny and Jenny
A film by Michal Aviad
This moving, closely observed portrait of adolescence documents one summer in the lives of two 17 year old cousins named Jenny. As North African Jewish immigrants living on Israel's working class Mediterranean coast, the girls' changing environment provides a fascinating window into a culture both religious and secular. In struggling towards self-definition, their experiences embody universal concerns of young women. An intimate look at the cousins at school, at home, and with friends, JENNY AND JENNY sensitively depicts the fragility and power of girls moving towards womanhood. More.

Johanna d'Arc of Mongolia
A film by Ulrike Ottinger
Ulrike Ottinger's epic adventure traces a fantastic encounter between two different worlds. Seven western women travelers meet aboard the sumptuous, meticulously reconstructed Trans-Siberian Express, a rolling museum of European culture. Lady Windemere, an elegant ethnographer played by the incomparable Delphine Seyrig in her last screen role, regales a young companion with Mongol myths and lore while other passengers-a prim tourist (Irm Hermann), a brash Broadway chanteuse and an all-girl klezmer trio-revel in campy dining car cabaret. More.

Khush
A film by Pratibha Parmar
KHUSH means ecstatic pleasure in Urdu. For South Asian lesbians and gay men in Britain, North America, and India (where homosexuality is still illegal) the term captures the blissful intricacies of being queer and of color. Inspiring testimonies bridge geographical differences to locate shared experiences of isolation and exoticization but also the unremitting joys and solidarity of being “khush”. Accentuated by beautifully lit dream sequences, dance segments and a dazzlingly sensuous soundtrack, this uplifting documentary conveys the exhilaration of a culturally rooted experience of sexuality. More.
 

Knowing Her Place
A film by Indu Krishnan
A moving investigation of the cultural schizophrenia experienced by Vasu, an Indian woman who has spent most of her life in the U.S. Vasu's relationships with her mother and grandmother in India and her husband and teenage sons in New York, reveal profound conflicts between her traditional upbringing and her personal and professional aspirations. More.

The Ladies Room: Zananeh
A film by Mahnaz Afzali, Produced by Hassan Poor-Shirazi & Mahnaz Afzali
Directed by the acclaimed Iranian actress Mahnaz Afzali and filmed entirely inside a ladies washroom in a public park in Tehran, this absorbing documentary shatters Western preconceptions of Iranian women. Populated by addicts, prostitutes, runaway girls and others who simply enjoy the camaraderie and atmosphere, the ladies room becomes one of the few places where women feel comfortable enough to smoke cigarettes, discuss taboo subjects and remove their veils. More.

La Cueca Sola
A film by Marilu Mallet
On September 11, 1973, a military coup in Chile brought Augusto Pinochet to power, and over the next 17 years, thousands of women and men were taken from their homes- never to return. Since that time, Chilean women have danced the country’s traditional courtship dance alone, and LA CUECA SOLA has become a symbol of women’s struggle against the dictatorship. After 30 years in exile, critically acclaimed filmmaker Marilu Mallet returns to Santiago to meet with five Chilean women from three generations who suffered under the dictatorship and have emerged as heroes under democracy. More.

The London Story
A film by Sally Potter
This lively, accessible spy spoof revolves around the unlikely alliance of three eccentric characters and their mission to uncover government foreign policy duplicity. Beautifully and humorously choreographed against London's most famed locales. In technicolor! Produced in association with the British Film Institute and Channel Four Television. More.

The Lost Garden
The Life and Cinema of Alice Guy-Blaché
A film by Marquise Lepage
A thoughtful tribute of clips, interviews, and archival resources reveal the life and times of Alice Guy-Blaché (1873-1968), arguably, the first narrative filmmaker in the world. Creating her first motion picture in France in the 1890s, Alice Guy-Blaché went on to pioneer her own successful production company in the US, producing and writing more than 700 films. More.

Recommended Subject Areas
       Gender
    Latin America
    Masculinity
 

A Man, When He Is a Man
A film by Valeria Sarmiento
Set in Costa Rica and touched with dark humor, this stylistically imaginative documentary illuminates the social climate and cultural traditions which nurture machismo and allow the domination of women to flourish in Latin America. More.

 

Margaret Sanger
A Public Nuisance
A film by Terese Svoboda and Steve Bull
MARGARET SANGER: A PUBLIC NUISANCE highlights Sanger's pioneering strategies of using media and popular culture to advance the cause of birth control. It tells the story of her arrest and trial, using actuality films, vaudeville, courtroom sketches and re-enactments, video effects and Sanger's own words. This witty and inventive documentary looks at how Sanger effectively changed public discussion of birth control from issues of morality to issues of women's health and economic well-being. Executive producers of the program are Barbara Abrash, Esther Katz and Laurence Hegarty. More.

Recommended Subject Areas
History
Literature

Master Smart Woman
A film by Jane Morrison in collaboration with photographer Peter Namuth
From the award-winning director of THE WHITE HERON and THE TWO WORLDS OF ANGELITA, this loving portrait is a much deserved re-evaluation of Sarah Orne Jewett's contribution to American literature. Recently rediscovered by feminist literary scholars, Jewett was a fiercely independent woman, a critically acclaimed 19th century author, and an important role model for a generation of women writers. More.  

Recommended Subject Areas Latina
    Mass Media & Popular Culture
        Motherhood

The Mother: Mitos Maternos
A film by Marta Bautis
This wry, self-reflective tape explores the mythical figure of the mother from multiple viewpoints-documentary and fiction, Spanish and English, theory and experience. The director interviews people on the street, views Hollywood stalwarts of maternal sentiment like Stella Dallas, reads what feminist thinkers have to say on the subject, and copes with life as a single Latina mother. A feminist telenovela for the 90s, THE MOTHER challenges popular beliefs about the mother's place and traditional representations of sacrifice and guilt. More.

Mother of Many Children
A film by Joanne Burke
Composed of a series of vignettes featuring Native women from different first nations, this classic work by Alanis Obomsawin, an Abenaki, reflects a proud matriarchal culture that for centuries has been pressured to adopt the values and traditions of white society. By tracing the cycle of Native women's lives from birth to childhood, puberty, young adulthood, maturity and old age, the film shows how Native women have struggled to regain a sense of equality, instilled cultural pride in their children and passed on their stories and language to younger generations. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada. More.

Mary Lou Williams
Music on My Mind
A film by Alanis Obomsawin
Pioneering Black American composer-arranger-pianist Mary Lou Williams is one of the most remarkable figures in the history of jazz. In this authoritative film, lively interviews with Williams, Dizzy Gillepsie and Buddy Tate interweave the musical and personal elements of her dramatic life. A spirited tribute to Williams’ indelible contribution to American culture, narrated by Roberta Flack More.

My Heart is My Witness
A film by Louise Carré
MY HEART IS MY WITNESS, by renowed French-Canadian filmmaker, Louise Carré, investigates the status of women in Islam through interviews with men and women from Mali, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. Though often caricatured in the Western media as a homogenous group of veiled subordinates, this documentary shows the diversity of Muslim women, informed by both religion and culture. This moving and stirring exploration of women’s rights and restrictions in Northern Africa and the Arabic peninsula helps us understand these women’s lives, struggles and dreams. More.

My Home, My Prison
A film by Erica Marcus and Susana Blaustein
MY HOME, MY PRISON is an uplifting and informative documentary based on the autobiography of Palestinian peace activist and journalist, Raymonda Hawa Tawil. Set against the backdrop of the last 50 years of Israeli-Palestinian conflict; the film is a tale of an uprooted nation seen through one woman’s eyes. It breaks the definitions of traditional documentary and narrative by interweaving documentary footage shot in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza Strip, archival footage and dramatized reenactments of scenes from Tawil’s life. The directors of this impressive film are both Jewish women, proud of their heritage and its tradition of fighting for social justice. More.

My Left Breast
A film by Gerry Rogers
“Every once in a while someone comes up with a film that sends us a clear signal that it's time to re-evaluate our lives. The film MY LEFT BREAST is not just for women living with breast cancer--it's for everyone.” – Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Incorporating a unique blend of wit, wisdom and resilience, filmmaker Gerry Rogers bravely recounts her story of breast cancer survival to share with the world that life, indeed, can continue with full force and vigor. Shortly after being diagnosed at age 42, Rogers began to document her ordeal on camera in an attempt to confront her own questions and fears about breast cancer. More.

My Feminism
A film by Dominique Cardona & Laurie Colbert
This excellent feminist primer debunks mass media’s demonization of feminism through incisive interviews with leading activists and intellectuals. It presents equality, gender, race, reproductive rights, sexualities, women’s health, abortion, parenting, breast cancer, poverty, and power as interlocking planks of the feminist global agenda.  More.

My Niagara
A film by Helen Lee
Grasping the texture of half-expressed desire, this beautifully drawn drama evokes the complex dislocations of an Asian American woman. Shadowed by the death of her mother, Julie Kumagai's life with her widower father is marked by pained, turbulent exchanges. Indifferent to a break-up with her boyfriend and the lure of a long-planned trip, she finds some refuge in her workplace where meets Tetsuro, a young Korean man newly emigrated from Japan who is obsessed with all things American. But together they discover no easy resolutions.  More.

Navajo Talking Picture
A film by Arlene Bowman
Navajo filmmaker Arlene Bowman (SONG JOURNEY) charts a thoughtful personal journey to document the traditional ways of her grandmother living on the reservation. In spite of her grandmother’s forceful objections to this invasion of her privacy, Bowman persists in what ultimately emerges as a thought-provoking portrait that calls into question issues of “insider/outsider” status as the filmmaker co-opts a “white man’s” medium to capture the remnants of her cultural past. More.

Nice Colored Girls
A film by Tracey Moffatt
This stylistically daring film explores the history of exploitation between white men and Aboriginal women, juxtaposing the “first encounter” between colonizers and native women with the attempts of modern urban Aboriginal women to reverse their fortunes. More.

On Becoming a Woman
A film by Cheryl Chisholm
This extraordinary documentary provides rare insights into some important health issues for African American women. Although it was produced before AIDS was a major factor for women, ON BECOMING A WOMAN deals candidly and constructively with teen pregnancy, providing in-depth information about reproduction, birth control, self-examination and sexual activity. Filmed primarily during the National Black Women's Health Project workshop sessions, this historic film also demonstrates models for trust and communication between mothers and daughters. More.

Recommended Subject Areas
        Asia
       Asian American
       Mass Media & Popular Culture
       Post-Colonialism
       Racism

On Cannibalism
A film by Fatimah Tobing Rony
King Kong meets the family photograph in this provocative experimental video exploring the West's insatiable appetite for native bodies in museums, world's fairs, and early cinema. Intertwining personal narrative about race and identity in the U.S. with layered footage, artifacts and video effects, ON CANNIBALISM looks back at anthropological truisms with outrage and irony. More.

Out of Phoenix Bridge
A film by Li Hong
This groundbreaking work from Li Hong, China’s first independent female documentarian, follows two years in the lives of four young women from the countryside who have come to Beijing for jobs. Although they work long hours as maids or street vendors and share a tiny room no bigger than a closet, they savor these years— between living as a daughter at home and returning to the village to marry —as probably the freest time of their lives. More.

Paradise Lost
A film by Ibtisam Salh Mara'ana
This thought-provoking film diary about Mid-East relations follows the Arab-Israeli director’s attempt to find her childhood hero, “bad-girl” Suuad and recreate her Mediterranean village’s lost history, amidst the modern cultural and political shifts brought on by Jewish settlements. This film brilliantly expresses the contradictions of modern womanhood and national identity in the Middle East.  More.

The Passion of Remembrance
A Sankofa film by Maureen Blackwood and Isaac Julien
The first film by Sankofa Film and Video, THE PASSION OF REMEMBRANCE has gained classic status as a representation of the totality and diversity of Black experience. Within a dramatic framework the film gives a mosaic impression of the different dimensions of Black experience lived and imagined by a generation of filmmakers in the UK. As beautiful as it is eloquent, THE PASSION OF REMEMBRANCE is critical viewing for those interested in race, gender, history and cinema studies. More.

Recommended Subject Areas
       Asia
    Religion
    Islam
    Middle East
    Anthropology
    Immigration and Exile
 

A Place Called Home
A film by Persheng Sadegh-Vaziri
Persheng Sadegh Vaziri grew up an American Community schoolgirl in pre-revolutionary Tehran, daydreaming about an ideal life in the West. 19 years later, after living and working in the US, Persheng explores her controversial decision to move back to Iran, to return to the places she never stopped calling home. More.

Praise House
A film by Julie Dash
PRAISE HOUSE combines elements of theater, dance and music based on the rhythms and rituals of Africa. Julie Dash, director of DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST, collaborated with Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, founder and choreographer of Urban Bush Women, to explore the source of creativity and its effect on three generations of African American women. PRAISE HOUSE shows the emotional prison so many people live in, even as it celebrates the persistence of belief and creativity, and the splendid legacies African Americans have preserved against all odds. More.

Ramleh
A film by Michal Aviad
A timely and powerful look at the ideological, cultural and political conflicts in contemporary Israel, this highly original documentary profiles three seemingly disparate women residing in the town of Ramleh. Located in the heartland of the Israel, this former Palestinean territory serves as a microcosm of the beliefs, biases and conflicts of women living in the country today. More.

Real Indian
A film by Malinda Maynor
"Real Indian" is a lighthearted, very personal look at the meaning of cultural identity. As a Lumbee Indian, the filmmaker is constantly confronted with the fact that she doesn't fit any of society's stereotypes for Native Americans. Those stereotypes are imposed by both whites and other Indians, alienating the filmmaker from many of the conventional definitions of Native American identity. "Real Indian" is a unique look into the fascinating and complex world of Lumbee Indian culture and makes the viewer question perceptions of Native Americans, as well as the meaning of our own cultural identity. More.
 

Recommended Subject Areas
    History
    Racism
    Leadership
 

Rebel Hearts
A film by Betsy Newman
REBEL HEARTS is a captivating documentary about the abolitionists Sarah and Angelina Grimke and the anti-slavery movement of the early 19th Century. Daughters of a wealthy slave-holding family from Charleston, SC, the Grimke sisters astonished everyone-family, friends and abolitionists-when they left the south to become the first female agents of the anti-slavery movement. More.

Remembering Wei Yi-fang, Remembering Myself
A film by Yvonne Welbon
REMEMBERING WEI YI-FANG, REMEMEBERING MYSELF: An Autobiography charts the influence of the filmmaker’s six-year experience as an African American woman in Taiwan after college graduation. The highly original film recounts Welbon’s discovery, through another language and culture, of being respected for who she is, without the constant of American racism, and how it helped her achieve self-knowledge. Linking this story with that of earlier women in Welbon’s family, the richly textured memoir blends dramatic sequences with documentary footage. More.
 

Riddles of the Sphinx
A film by Laura Mulvey & Peter Wollen
In arguably one of the most visually stimulating, theoretically rigorous films to emerge from the 1970s, seminal feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey invokes the Oedipus story to probe representation in film in this landmark work fusing feminism and experimentation as it seeks to create a non-sexist film language. More.

Ripples of Change
Japanese Women’s Search for Self
A film by Nanako Kurihara
Inspired by the women’s liberation movement in America, Japanese director Nanako Kurihara traces the vast psychological and political distance Japanese feminists have had to travel in their fight for equality. “I didn’t really feel like a human being. We didn't even have a language, a vocabulary, for the kind of discourse that we needed to have,” one leading feminist recalls in this powerfully personal film. “I had to start with what I was—a woman.”  More.

Rule of Thumb: Order of Protection
A film by Jill Evans Petzall
A sensitive video which explores domestic violence through the perspective of women who have left abusive relationships. Five women from different backgrounds discuss their ordeals and the concrete steps they have taken to eradicate fear and violence from their daily lives. Supplemented by testimonies from a woman judge, a police officer and a former abuser, this empowering tape offers clear, concise instructions on obtaining an order of protection and other support services. More.

Search for Freedom
A film by Munizae Jahangir
SEARCH FOR FREEDOM traces the dramatic social and political history of Afghanistan from the 1920s to the present through the stories of four remarkable women: Princess Shafiqa Saroj, sister of the beloved progressive King Amanullah (1919-1929); Mairman Parveen, the first woman to sing on Afghan radio; Moshina, a war widow and survivor of a Taliban massacre; and Sohaila, an exiled medical student who ran underground schools for RAWA (Revolutionary Association of Afghan Women) during the Taliban regime. More.

Selbe
One Among Many
Produced by Safi Faye
This revealing documentary offers a rare view of daily life in West Africa. Shot in Senegal, SELBE focuses on the social role and economic responsibility of women in African society. Because men often leave their communities to earn money in the city, women are left with the sole responsibility for their families. One woman’s personal struggle reflects the broader issues facing many women in developing countries. Safi Faye, an ethnologist, is the most important woman director of documentaries in West Africa. More.

Seven Women-Seven Sins
Produced by Maxi Cohen
What constitutes a deadly sin today? Seven of the world’s best-known women directors produce their own version of celluloid sin in this omnibus film. Smart and fun, it is the perfect stylistic survey of seven innovative women directors, and a wonderful introduction to the world of women’s filmmaking. Includes Helke Sander (Gluttony), Bette Gordon (Greed), Maxi Cohen (Anger), Chantal Akerman (Sloth), Valie Export (Lust), Laurence Gavron (Envy), and Ulrike Ottinger (Pride). More.

ANGER - Montreal Festival du
       Nouveau Cinema, Best Short Film
ANGER - Tokyo Video Festival,
       Award of Special Distinction

Recommended Subject Areas
Human Rights
Lesbian
Central America

Sex and the Sandinistas
A film by Lucinda Broadbent
Nicaragua is known for the Sandinista Revolution, an inspiring struggle for national liberation. What has never been told before is the story of how homosexuals, in the teeth of a machista Roman Catholic culture, battled for their own space inside the Revolution. What really happened when the Sandinistas found their soldiers and revolutionary comrades falling in love with the wrong sex? More.

She Even Chewed Tobacco
A film by Elizabeth Stevens and Estelle Freedman
The Gold Rush. A new frontier. Nineteenth century California offered women the opportunity to pioneer new roles for themselves. Meet Babe Bean, the "trouser puzzle" who escaped the hot glare of tabloid headlines by disguising herself as Jack Garland and serving in the Spanish American War. Or Jeanne Bonnet who scored a record of 22+ arrests for wearing male attire, went to prison for her indiscretions and later organized a group of prostitutes into a shoplifting ring! "A fascinating eye-opening tribute to the stamina and chutzpah of some of yesterday's most notable pariahs!" —The Advocate More.

She Wants to Talk to You
A film by Anita Chang
In October 1999 filmmaker Anita Chang befriended three 13-year-old girls – Monika Rasali, Sushma Sada and Vinita Shrestha – while living in Kathmandu, Nepal. Honestly presenting themselves in front of the camera, these girls share with the filmmaker their ideas on marriage, friendship and spirituality. Their recordings provide a complex and poignant framework for three Nepali women living in the U.S. to reflect on their own struggle, exile and quest for liberation. Through verite documentary, the film offers rare insight into the lives of girls and women from a society steeped in patriarchy, tradition and caste. More.

Sidet: Forced Exile
A film by Salem Mekuria
During the past two decades, more than two million refugees have left Ethiopia. Famine, poverty and political strife as well as the religious persecution caused by Eritrea’s annexation have already cost countless lives. Narrated by Salem Mekuria, an Ethiopian filmmaker in the US, this lucid documentary presents the life stories of three women refugees in neighboring Sudan. It traces the attempts of individual women to survive displacement, resettlement camps and ineffectual bureaucracy. An astute, politically sophisticated analysis of social and economic crisis from the perspective of Third World women. More.

Siren Spirits
A film by Ngozi Onwurah, Pratibha Parmar, Frances-Anne Solomon, Dani Williamson
SIREN SPIRITS is a wonderful feature comprising four short dramas directed by women of color, produced by Leda Serene for the British Film Institute and BBC Television. SIREN SPIRITS shows the powerful complexity of family and race relations in contemporary society and is testament to the brilliant creativity of these four directors. SIREN SPIRITS is only available as an 80-minute program. More.

Some Real Heat
A film by Stefanie Jordan
Armed with axes and heart, six female firefighters in San Francisco share what it’s like to work in one of the world’s most dangerous, male-dominated professions. Award-winning German filmmaker Stefanie Jordan follows these trail blazers as they fight both fires and gender bias and speak passionately about their fears, the weight of their tools, and the victims whose lives they attempt to save. More.

Something Like a War
A film by Deepa Dhanraj
This chilling examination of India’s family planning program, told from the point of view of the women who are its primary targets, traces the history of the program and the cynicism, corruption and brutality which characterize its implementation. This insightful film is an excellent resource for the study of international development and aid, population control, reproductive rights, health and women. More.

Song Journey
A film by Arlene Bowman and Jeanine Moret
SONG JOURNEY takes Arlene Bowman (Navajo) on the pow-wow circuit in the hope of reviving her connection to traditional Native culture. There she finds a fascinating movement amongst Native American female musicians who are both carrying forward the musical traditions of the First Nations as well as conducting a gentle but effective rebellion against the male monopoly of the "inner circle" represented by the drum. SONG JOURNEY is a powerful illustration of the strength of contemporary Native cultural identity and a wonderful companion to Bowman's award-winning Navajo Talking Picture. More.

A State of Danger
A film by Haim Bresheeth and Jenny Morgan
Shot in Israel and the Occupied Territories, this extraordinary documentary offers a unique, vital perspective on the Intifada seldom seen in U.S. mainstream media. Produced for the BBC, A State of Danger gives voice to Palestinian and Israeli peace activists, most of them women. Chilling testimonies to Israeli police brutality are supplemented by interviews with Israelis who support Palestinian self-determination. A STATE OF DANGER is a compelling, timely documentary that examines grassroots support, human rights and the role of Arab and Jewish women in bringing peace to the region. More.

Subrosa
A film by Helen Lee
SUBROSA traces a young woman's journey to Korea, the land of her birth, to find the mother she's never known. This exquisitely crafted drama probes the idealized, often false constructions of cultural and maternal identities wrought by the adoptee's return. SUBROSA tracks the unnamed heroine from a sterile adoption agency office to seedy bars and motel rooms on neon strips, then to a stark U.S. army camp town and the bustling flower markets of Seoul. Though her path to self-destruction and ultimate self-revelation ironically and tragically mirrors that of her imagined biological mother, the past remains elusive to her, the secret intact. More.

Sweating Indian Style
A film by Susan Smith
The appropriation of Native American traditions by non-Natives comes under thoughtful scrutiny in this insightful documentary. As it follows the New Age activities of a group of Californian women learning to construct a sweat lodge and perform their own ceremony, it raises important questions about the use of elements of Native culture out of context, apart from the complex realities of American Indian experience. Interviews with diverse Native American women point out the problems inherent in this increasingly popular New Age phenomenon and its relationship to traditional forms of colonialism. More.
 

Sweet Power
Doces Poderes
A film by Lúcia Murat
During a tumultuous political campaign, veteran broadcast journalist Bia takes over as news director of a major television network. Brazilian filmmaker Lúcia Murat has drawn on her own experiences as a television journalist and human rights activist who was jailed for her political activities to create this stylish, sexy drama about moral conflicts between careerism, political expediency and personal and professional ideals. More.

Syvilla
They Dance to Her Drum
A film by Ayoka Chenzira
A portrait of Syvilla Fort focusing on the beauty of her choreography, the virtuosity of her dancing, and her role as teacher of a generation of African American dancers. More.
 

They Are Their Own Gifts
A film by Lucille Rhodes and Margaret Murphy
A three volume set of film portraits--Muriel Rukeyser, Alice Neel and Anna Sokolow. The poetry, painting, and dance of these three women is not artistic purism, but the product of a life conducted within social fabric. Through interviews, photographs and her own poetry readings, Muriel Rukeyser is shown as a civil rights and political activist. "This film shows beautifully how Rukeyser's courageous and independent life and her fierce and compassionate lyricism are forged to make the long poem that is her life." --Galen Williams, Executive Director, Poets and Writers. More.

Recommended Subject Areas
    Middle East
    Politics
    Palestine
    Arab
    War
 

This is Not Living
Hay mish Eishi
A film by Alia Arasoughly
Directed by Alia Arasoughly – a Palestinian filmmaker living in war-torn Ramallah – this deeply moving piece explores the lives of eight Palestinian women and their struggle to live normal lives amidst the degrading drama of war, terror and military occupation. Representing a diverse cross-section of Palestinian society – from a news editor to a domestic worker to a housewife – they candidly speak about their daily encounters with violence and their marginalization in the ideological debate concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. More.
 

Through the Skin
A film by Elliot Montague
In this highly personal experimental autobiography, emerging filmmaker Elliot Montague presents a daring meditation on the experience and trauma of growing up androgynous. Incorporating home movies with vintage health public service announcements, along with his own performance pieces, Elliot jarringly discloses the conflicts between his changing female body with that of his gender and sexual identity. Through a montage of images set against a dissonant soundtrack, he speaks about the misunderstandings and tensions his identity struggle caused his family and the depression that later resulted. More.

Ticket of No Return
A film by Ulrike Ottinger
A haunting and gorgeous classic from legendary filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger (MADAM X, JOHANNA D’ARC OF MONGOLIA) about two women from disparate backgrounds, both on an alcohol-laden, self-destructive tour of a lonely Berlin. With Tabea Blumenschein, Magdalena Montezuma, Nina Hagen and Eddie Constantine. More.

Troubled Harvest
A film by Sharon Genasci and Dorothy Velasco
This award-winning documentary examines the lives of women migrant workers from Mexico and Central America as they work in grape, strawberry and cherry harvests in California and the Pacific Northwest. Interviews with women farm workers reveal the dangerous health effects of pesticides, the problems they encounter as working mothers of young children, and the destructive consequences of US immigration policies. More.

Recommended Subject Areas
    Asian American
    Body Image
    Psychology

 

Two Lies
A film by Pam Tom
Doris Chu, a recently divorced Chinese American woman, has plastic surgery to make her eyes rounder. From her teenage daughter Mei's perspective, her mother's two eyes equal two lies. When the family journeys to a desert resort during Doris' recuperation, a series of revelations and bitter confrontations erupt. This beautiful black and white drama is a poignant study of generational conflict and the struggle for identity in a world of hybrid cultures. More.

Unfinished Diary
A film by Marilu Mallet
In this moving docudrama, Chilean emigre Mallet struggles to make a film about her experience of profound isolation. Her English speaking husband, a prominent filmmaker, criticizes her subjective approach to filmmaking; their young son, raised in Quebec, speaks only French. Interviews with Isabel Allende and other Chilean exiles reveal a deep bond in this powerful, resonant film about language and gender, exile and immigration. More.

 

Uphill All the Way
A film by Khin May Lwin and Robert Nassau
Five troubled teenage girls, students at a rehabilitative high school, face the challenge of their lives: a 2,500-mile bicycle journey along the United States Continental Divide. If finished, the trek will be the first time in their lives the girls have set a goal and met it. Over the course of three months, they mature in ways that are thought provoking and unexpected. More.

Up in the Sky: Tracey Moffatt in New York
A film by Jane Cole
UP IN THE SKY scans the universe created by the provocative and talented photographer and filmmaker Tracey Moffatt. An important figure in the Australian postcolonial avant-garde, Moffatt started out with visually compelling (and often disturbing) photographs and films such as NICE COLOURED GIRLS, NIGHT CRIES, and BEDEVIL that explore her own Aboriginal heritage and the complex ways that power, race and gender intersect, often violently, in everyday life. More.

The Veiled Hope
Women of Palestine
A film by Norma Marcos
THE VEILED HOPE explores the personal and political challenges facing Palestinian women through a series of wonderful portraits of women living on the Gaza and West Bank. The women explain how in their daily lives as doctors, schoolteachers and activists they are working to rebuild Palestinian cultural identity. They also provide a rare insight into the complex feelings women have surrounding the emergence of political Islamic movements. THE VEILED HOPE gives an in-depth analysis of the position of Palestinian women as they juggle women’s and national liberation struggles. More.

The Vienna Tribunal
A film by Gerry Rogers
Highlights of moving personal testimonies at the Global Tribunal on Violations of Women's Rights-held in conjunction with U.N. World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993-reveal why women's rights need to be seen as human rights. Made in conjunction with the Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University, THE VIENNA TRIBUNAL is not simply a video documenting events of the past, but a thought-provoking analysis of the abuses women suffer all over the world. More.
 

Visions of the Spirit
A Portrait of Alice Walker
A film by Elena Featherston
This intimate and inspiring portrait of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker explores the compassion, insight and strength that have made her one of the most admired women in the United States. In-depth conversations with the writer and members of her family examine the roots of her southern African American feminist consciousness, and feminist literary scholar Barbara Christian places Walker in the history of African American literature. More.

Visitors of the Night
A film by An van Dienderen
The failures of the ethnographic endeavor to discover “reality” are revealed in this expository and experimental film. The narrator-ethnographer embarks on an expedition to encounter the Mosou, an isolated and matrilinear tribe in the mountains of South West China. Their society is built on the principle of the axia-relationship, ties between ‘visitors of the night’. This means that a man only stays in his wife’s house at night and during the day he works for the benefit of his grandmother. Since men and women do not have economical obligations, their unique, polyandric relationships are based on love only. More.

Voices Heard Sisters Unseen
A film by Grace Poore
VOICES HEARD SISTERS UNSEEN is a powerful and inspirational videotape showing how survivors of domestic violence are working to change the way the system treats battered women in search of justice and safety. Interviews, poetry, dance and music combine to present a feminist analysis about how courts, police and social services 're-victimize' battered women who are deaf, disabled, lesbians, prostitutes, HIV-positive and without official immigrant status. VOICES HEARD SISTERS UNSEEN is an important call for multi-issue activism and an integrated response to services for battered women. More.

Recommended Subject Areas
     Lesbian
    Sexuality
 

Wavelengths
A film by Pratibha Parmar
WAVELENGTHS explores the time honored quest for love and human intimacy in the polished world of computers and the Internet. Set in gay bars, dreams, and cyberspace, this perceptive and highly visual film contemplates one woman's search for emotionally safer sex. Mona's girlfriend has left Mona with a broken heart, an empty goldfish tank, and—in her altered state—the ability to pick up other people's conversations. Stuck in the post relationship blues, Mona just can't seem to move on...that is until she discovers "cybersex". This stylish new film from Pratibha Parmar features photographs by Nan Goldin and the hit single "Missing" by Everything But The Girl. More.

Recommended Subject Areas
    Child Abuse/Incest
    Black Diaspora
    Caribbean
    Immigration and Exile
 

What My Mother Told Me
A film by Frances-Anne Solomon
Exquisitely beautiful and profoundly moving, WHAT MY MOTHER TOLD ME is a dramatic journey towards self discovery. The story focuses on Jesse, a young woman from England, who goes to Trinidad to bury her father. Reluctantly she agrees to meet her mother, whom she thought had abandoned her when she was a child. Her mother tells her stories, revealing a troubled and violent marriage, and Jesse is forced to face the truth about her past. WHAT MY MOTHER TOLD ME cleverly evokes complex connections between history, memory, violence and cultural identity. More.

Recommended Subject Areas
    Asian American
    Racism
    Psychology

Recommended Subject Areas
Psychology
Domestic Violence and Sexual  Assault

Why Women Stay
A film by Jacqueline Shortell-McSweeney and Debra Zimmerman
This documentary examines the complex reasons why women remain in violent homes and challenges the prevailing attitudes which accept domestic violence as well as the social structures which perpetuate it. Among the issues examined are the attitudes of battered women, the lack of funding for shelters and the support battered women find in a shelter environment. Although produced more than ten years ago in a low budget format, this video still offers a complex analysis of an enduring social problem. More.

Woman Being
A film by Wen-Jie Qin
In a critical examination of changing concepts of beauty and sexuality in modern China, WOMAN BEING illustrates how a flood of Western pop culture is adversely affecting women's expectations and self-worth. Revisiting her hometown Chengdu after a long absence, videomaker Wen-Jie Qin traces the impact of a newly booming beauty industry in a country where thirty years ago women were beat up for wearing makeup. Combining interviews and footage from glamour photo studios and television, WOMAN BEING explores the rise of a new super-feminine, highly sexualized ideal. More.
 

The Women Next Door
A film by Michal Aviad
THE WOMEN NEXT DOOR is a thoughtful and emotive documentary about women in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Israeli director Michal Aviad was living in the United States when the Intifada broke out in the West Bank and Gaza. Filled with questions about how the Occupation affected women on both sides of the conflict, she set off in a journey through Israel and the Occupied Territories with two other women -- a Palestinian assistant director and an Israeli cinematographer. The film explores the roles that the Occupation designated for women on both sides and the questions it raises. In a world of occupation, what is the meaning of femininity, motherhood, birth, violence, compassion and solidarity between women? Can the womanhood of Israelis and Palestinians be separated from their political reality? More.

Recommended Subject Areas
History
Film History

Women Who Made the Movies
A film by Gwendolyn Foster and Wheeler Dixon
WOMEN WHO MADE THE MOVIES traces the careers and films of such pioneer women filmmakers as Alice Guy Blaché, Ruth Ann Baldwin, Ida Lupino, Leni Riefenstahl, Dorothy Davenport Reid, Lois Weber, Kathlyn Williams, Cleo Madison, and many other women who made a lasting contribution to cinema history with their films. Featuring clips from the films, rare archival footage and stills, WOMEN WHO MADE THE MOVIES brings to life the works of these remarkable women. Critical viewing for all those interested in the history of cinema. More.

Recommended Subject Areas
Feature Films (fiction)
Literature
Psychology
 

The Yellow Wallpaper
A film by Marie Ashton
This short dramatic film brings to life the classic Charlotte Perkins Gilman story of the same name, which has become an important addition to American literature course curricula. Set in the late 1800s, the story features Elizabeth, an aspiring writer who becomes ill and is forced by her doctor and her husband to take a "rest cure." Completely isolated, her mind creates a world inside the wallpaper in her room-a world in which a woman is trapped and unable to escape. More.