History
¡Adelante Mujeres! A film by the National Women's History Project, 1992, 30 min., Color Spanning five centuries, this comprehensive video, produced by the National Women's History Project, focuses exclusively on the history of Mexican-Ame...
Algeria: Women At War A film produced by Parminder Vir, 1992, 52 min., Color ALGERIA: WOMEN AT WAR offers a rare insight into the key role Algerian women played in their country’s liberation struggle from the French thirty year...
And Still I Rise A film by Ngozi Onwurah, 1993, 30 min., Color Inspired by a poem by Maya Angelou, this powerful film explores images of Black women in the media, focusing on the myths surrounding Black women's se...
As I Remember It A film by Salem Mekuria, 1991, 56 min., Color This intimate portrait of writer Dorothy West explores the forgotten role of women in the Harlem Renaissance. From the perspective of her 83 years, th...
B.D. Women A film by Inge Blackman, 1994, 20 min., Color B.D. WOMEN is a wonderful celebration of the history and culture of Black lesbians. Lively interviews feature Black women talking candidly about thei...
Beyond Imagining A film by Wendy Weinberg, 1991, 30 min., Color Bold literary visionary Margaret Anderson founded the journal Little Review in 1914, an overlooked but profound influence on American literature. Ande...
Bloodlines A film by Cynthia Connop, 2008, 52 min., Color Bettina Goering, grandniece of Herman Goering, has long tried to bury the dark legacy of her family history. Painter Ruth Rich, a daughter of Holocaus...
...But Then, She's Betty Carter A film by Michelle Parkerson, 1980, 53 min., Color This lively film is an unforgettable portrait of legendary vocalist Betty Carter, one of the greatest living exponents of jazz. Uncompromised by comme...
Chicana A film by Sylvia Morales, 1979, 23 min., Color CHICANA traces the history of Chicana and Mexican women from pre-Columbian times to the present. It covers women's role in Aztec society, their partic...
Children of the Crocodile A film by Marsha Emerman, 2001, 52 min., Color This documentary tells the story of two young Timorese-Australian activists – one a high profile human rights worker, the other a performance artist a...
Choice Thoughts A film by Jacqueline Frank, 1996, 10 min., Color In a witty mix of rare archival footage and sound bites from religious and political leaders, filmmaker Jacqueline Frank takes a fast-paced look at 10...
Confession A film by Marina Petrovskaia, 2001, 19 min., BW "I want to make a confession. I used my camera as a weapon to manipulate a now defenseless person and she has been haunting me ever since," declares f...
Countdown A film by Ulrike Ottinger, 1991, 189 min., Color From one of Berlin’s leading directors comes COUNTDOWN, a fascinating chronicle of the divided Germany’s final days. Ulrike Ottinger’s documentary sh...
Daring to Resist: Three Women Face the Holocaust A film by Martha Goell Lubell and Barbara Attie, 1999, 57 min., Color Why would a young person choose resistance rather than submission during Hitler's reign of terror while her world was collapsing around her? In this ...
Emily and Gitta A film by Tami Gold, 1996, 30 min., Color Memories of the Holocaust are interlaced with a contemporary love story in this arresting short drama in which history and inescapable repercussions f...
The Female Closet A film by Barbara Hammer, 1998, 60 min., Color This fascinating videotape from renowned filmmaker Barbara Hammer combines rare footage, interviews, and rich visual documentation to survey the lives...
Four Women of Egypt A film by Tahani Rached, 1997, 90 min., Color Amina Rachid was raised in a non-religious, Westernized, aristocratic household before embracing Socialism and fighting for social justice. Another d...
The Fragile Promise of Choice Directed by Dorothy Fadiman
Produced by Beth Seltzer, 1996, 57 min., 1 in series, Color "The World Health Organization estimates that unsafe abortions cause more than 75,000 deaths annually, worldwide. GIRE, a major reproductive rights g...
From Danger to Dignity A film by Dorothy Fadiman, Daniel Meyers and Beth Seltzer, 1995, 57 min., 2 in series, Color This eye-opening documentary chronicles the double-pronged movement-the grassroots activism and intensive legislative lobbying- that culminated in Roe...
From the Back-Alleys to the Supreme Court and Beyond A 3-part series by Dorothy Fadiman, Daniel Meyers, and Beth Seltzer, 1996, 3 in series, Color This acclaimed series provides a comprehensive look at abortion in the United States. Combining interviews and archival footage, it covers the movin...
Greetings from Washington DC A film by Rob Epstein, Frances Reid, Greta Schiller and Lucy Winer, 1981, 28 min. A kaleidoscope of music, dance, stories and laughter shared at the first gay and lesbian rights march on Washington....
Healthcaring A film by Denise Bostrom and Jane Warrenbrand, 1976, 32 min. A classic chronicle of women's relationship to gynecology and healthcare, produced by Women Make Movies. In this bold and sensitive documentary, women...
History and Memory: For Akiko and Takashige A film by Rea Tajiri, 1991, 32 min., Color/BW Groundbreaking and haunting, this film is a poetic composition of recorded history and non-recorded memory. Filmmaker Rea Tajiri’s family was among th...
Hollywood Harems A film by Tania Kamal-Eldin, 1999, 24 min., Color "Tania Kamal-Eldin has once again produced a stunning video, a half-hour documentary, this time taking critical aim at Hollywood's abiding fascination...
I Is a Long-Memoried Woman Produced by Ingrid Lewis, A film by Frances-Anne Solomon, 1990, 50 min., Color This extraordinary video chronicles the history of slavery through the eyes of Caribbean women. A striking combination of monologue, dance, and song—g...
In the Best Interests of the Children A film by Frances Reid, Elizabeth Stevens and Cathy Zheutlin, 1977, 53 min. This groundbreaking film on lesbian mothering portrays the diversity of experience, race and class among eight lesbian mothers and their children....
Invocation A film by Jo Ann Kaplan, 1987, 53 min., Color/BW Maya Deren is a legend of avant-garde cinema. This authoritative biography of the charismatic filmmaker, poet and anthropologist features excerpts fro...
Isa Kremer: The People's Diva Directed by Nina Baker Feinberg and Ted Schillinger
A film by the Women's Media Group, 2000, 56 min., Color/BW A charismatic stage performer who crisscrossed the world and was feted by princes, sultans and czars; a diva activist who confronted totalitarianism ...
Jane: An Abortion Service A film by Kate Kirtz and Nell Lundy, 1996, 58 min., Color 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 who per...
Kathleen Shannon: On Film, Feminism & Other Dreams A film by Gerry Rogers, 1997, 50 min., Color This inspiring portrait depicts the life of film pioneer Kathleen Shannon, the founder of Studio D at the National Film Board of Canada. Founded to f...
The Lost Garden A film by Marquise Lepage, 1995, 53 min., Color THE LOST GARDEN looks at the life and times of Alice Guy-Blaché (1873-1968), arguably, the first narrative filmmaker in the world. Creating her first...
Louder Than Our Words A film by Harriet Hirshhorn and Lydia Pilcher, 1983, 36 min. A look at civil disobedience and women's rights in the U.S. from the suffragettes through the anti-war and disarmament movements....
Love Story A film by Catrine Clay, 1997, 60 min., Color In 1942 Berlin, LiIly Wurst was a model Aryan hausfrau with a picture of the FŸhrer on the wall, a husband in the army, and a German motherhood medal ...
The Maids! A film by Muriel Jackson, 1985, 28 min., Color Domestic service has long been branded as demeaning work: it involves long hours, menial toil and low pay. Historically, and not coincidentally, it ha...
Margaret Sanger A film directed by Terese Svoboda and Steve Bull, 1992, 28 min., Color MARGARET SANGER: A PUBLIC NUISANCE highlights Sanger's pioneering strategies of using media and popular culture to advance the cause of birth control...
Mary Lou Williams A film by Joanne Burke, 1990, 60 min., Color Pioneering Black American composer-arranger-pianist Mary Lou Williams is one of the most remarkable figures in the history of jazz. In this authorit...
Master Smart Woman A film by Jane Morrison in collaboration with photographer Peter Namuth, 1984, 28 min., Color 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...
Miss Amy and Miss May A film by Sistren Research
Directed by Cynthia Wilmot, 1990, 40 min., Color Amy Bailey, daughter of an eminent Black family, was a leader of the Jamaican women’s movement in the 1930s. May Farquharson, daughter of a wealthy wh...
Mother of the River A film by Zeinabu Irene Davis, 1995, 28 min., BW In this poignant story set in the 1850s, a young slave girl befriends a magical woman in the woods called Mother of the River. Through their friendsh...
My Filmmaking, My Life A film by Patricia Diaz, 1990, 30 min., Color Matilde Landeta entered the flourishing Mexican film industry in the 1930s, working her way up from script girl to direct 110 shorts and, in the late ...
Nu Shu: A Hidden Language of Women in China A film by Yue-Qing Yang, 1999, 59 min., Color In feudal China, women, usually with bound feet, were denied educational opportunities and condemned to social isolation. But in Jian-yong county in ...
The Phantom of the Operator A film by Caroline Martel, 2004, 66 min., Color/BW This wry and delightful found-footage film reveals a little-known chapter in labor history: the story of female telephone operators’ central place in ...
The Pill A film by Erna Buffie and Elise Swerhone, 1999, 45 min., Color Conceived to help women control their fertility, the birth control pill was a touchstone for sexual liberation in the 1960s and is now used by million...
A Place of Rage A film by Pratibha Parmar, 1991, 52 min., Color This exuberant celebration of African American women and their achievements features interviews with Angela Davis, June Jordan and Alice Walker. Withi...
Rebel Hearts A film by Betsy Newman, 1995, 60 min., Color REBEL HEARTS is a captivating documentary about the abolitionists Sarah and Angelina Grimke and the anti-slavery movement of the early 19th Century. ...
Reconstruction A film by Irene Lusztig, 2001, 90 min., Color/BW Filmmaker Irene Lusztig unearths a dark family secret in search of answers and reconciliation in her breakthrough feature documentary, RECONSTRUCTION....
Seven Hours To Burn A film by Shanti Thakur, 1999, 9 min., Color/BW "A visually expressive personal documentary that explores a family's history. Filmmaker Thakur mixes richly abstract filmmaking with disturbing archi...
She Even Chewed Tobacco By Elizabeth Stevens and Estelle Freedman, 1983, 40 min., BW The Gold Rush. A new frontier. Nineteenth century California offered women the opportunity to pioneer new roles for themselves. Meet Babe Bean, the...
Silent Song A film by Elida Schogt, 2001, 6 min., 3 in series “In SILENT SONG Schogt deftly conjures an elaborate dialogue around issues of memory in its various forms - personal, historical, filmic… [her] rich a...
Snakes and Ladders A film by Trish Fitzsimmons and Mitzi Goldman, 1987, 59 min. Like our own children’s game, Chutes and Ladders, the story of women’s education has always been one step forward, two steps back. In this creative d...
Some American Feminists A film by Luce Guilbeault, Nicole Brossard and Margaret Wescott, 1980, 56 min., Color SOME AMERICAN FEMINISTS explores one of the most significant social histories of this century-the second wave of the women's movement-and is a fascina...
Some Ground To Stand On A film by Joyce Warshow
Co-produced and edited by Janet Baus, 1998, 35 min., Color This compelling documentary tells the life story of Blue Lunden, a working class lesbian activist whose odyssey of personal transformation parallels l...
Standing on My Sisters' Shoulders A film by Joan Sadoff, Dr. Robert Sadoff and Laura J. Lipson, 2002, 60 min., Color/BW In 1965, when three women walked into the US House of Representatives in Washington D.C., they had come a very long way. Neither lawyers nor politicia...
Step by Step: Building a Feminist Movement, 1941-1977 A film by Joyce Follet, 1998, 56 min., Color "****Proving beyond a doubt that feminism began well before the 1960s, and that its players were not just the white middle class, this inspiring tape ...
Storme A film by Michelle Parkerson, 1987, 21 min., Color “It ain’t easy…being green” is the favorite expression of Storme DeLarverie, a woman whose life flouted prescriptions of gender and race. During the ...
Through Chinese Women's Eyes A film by Mayfair Yang, 1997, 52 min., Color THROUGH CHINESE WOMEN'S EYES offers an insightful journey into the transformations in the lives of Chinese women over the 20th century. In a fascinat...
Thunder in Guyana A film by Suzanne Wasserman, 2003, 50 min., Color/BW THUNDER IN GUYANA is the remarkable tale of Janet Rosenberg, a young woman from Chicago who married Guyanese activist Cheddi Jagan, and set off for th...
Times of Darkness A film by Karoline Frogner, 1997, 90 min., Color A moving and essential contribution to our understanding of the Holocaust and Nazi era, this inspiring film tells the rarely heard story of women's su...
Trade Secrets A film by Stephanie Antalocy, 1985, 23 min., Color Perfect as a training tape or as an historical look at labor issues in the 1980s, TRADE SECRETS has been purchased by hundreds of colleges, libraries,...
Tree Shade A film by Lisa Collins, 1998, 29 min., Color/BW Shame and embarrassment propel Savannah, a gifted high school student, to embark on a journey through space and time to witness the prison convictions...
The Walnut Tree A film by Elida Schogt, 2000, 11 min., Color Through a striking combination of documentary and experimental approaches, THE WALNUT TREE examines Holocaust memory, the family, and the role of phot...
When Abortion Was Illegal Produced by Dorothy Fadiman, 1992, 28 min., 3 in series, Color "Until recently, the era of illegal abortion has been a 'sealed chapter' in U.S. women's history. The aura of shame surrounding unwanted pregnancies a...
Witches, Dykes, Faggots and Poofters A film by Digby Duncan, 1979, 45 min. In medieval times, nonconformists were labeled witches and burned at the stake. This important film makes links the social and political oppression o...
Women Filmmakers in Russia A film by Sally Potter, 1990, 51 min., Color Since Lenin's fervent embrace of cinema in the 1920s, more women have worked in the film industry in Russia than in the west. This fascinating docume...
Women of Steel A film by Mon Valley Media, 1984, 28 min., Color For women who entered the nation's steel mills in the 1970s, the mill was a ticket out of traditionally low-paying "women's jobs" and in some cases, o...
Women Who Made the Movies A film by Gwendolyn Foster and Wheeler Dixon, 1992, 55 min., Color/BW 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 Riefen...
Zyklon Portrait A film by Elida Schogt, 1999, 13 min., Color A Holocaust film without Holocaust imagery, ZYKLON PORTRAIT combines archival instructional films with family snapshots, home movies, underwater photo...
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