Now Available from WMM: WONDER WOMEN! traces the fascinating birth, evolution and legacy of Wonder Woman and introduces audiences to a dynamic group of fictional and real-life superheroines fighting for positive role models for girls, both on screen and off.

US | 2012 | 55 minutes | Color | DVD | English | Order No. W191252 |

SYNOPSIS

We are pleased that the critically acclaimed, now classic film, WONDER WOMEN! THE UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICAN SUPERHEROINES is now available in our collection. WONDER WOMEN! traces the fascinating birth, evolution and legacy of Wonder Woman and introduces audiences to a dynamic group of fictional and real-life superheroines fighting for positive role models for girls, both on screen and off.

From the birth of the 1940s comic book heroine, Wonder Woman, to the blockbusters of today, WONDER WOMEN! looks at how popular representations of powerful women often reflect society’s anxieties about strong and healthy women.
 The film goes behind the scenes with actors Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman) and Lindsay Wagner (the Bionic Woman), comic writers and artists, and real-life superheroines such as feminist icon Gloria Steinem, riot grrrl Kathleen Hanna, and others, who offer an enlightening and entertaining counterpoint to the male-dominated superhero genre.

PRESS

"A nuanced critique of gender and heroism in popular culture..."

Mary Celeste Kearney, Media Studies, University of Texas at Austin

“The film is filled with interviews with a multitude of smart, eloquent women explaining what should be evident but is so not: Girls need super heroes because they need to know that their gender is not an obstacle. If you have a daughter, it is a moral imperative that you show her this film as soon as possible."

Jessica Baxter, Film Threat

“Channels all of the excitement of reading a comic book into an exhilarating and captivating historical account of the evolution of the media’s first true Girl Power figure, Wonder Woman. More importantly, the film compellingly documents the importance of strong mediated role models for girls. I will absolutely show this in my college-level classes."

Sharon R. Mazzarella, Professor of Communication Studies, James Madison University

"WONDER WOMEN! is the first film to recognize the importance of comic book characters in providing strong, active role models for girls and women. This film fills a void in popular culture critiques that will inspire both girls and women, and enable lively classroom discussions about the profound influence of media in shaping notions of what women can be and do."

Caroline Heldman, Associate Professor of Politics, Occidental College

"In true superhero fashion, this film delivered a knock-out blow to my simple set of assumptions. Great as a way to introduce ideas and initiate discussion about gender, feminism, girls, activism. I would use it as a way to ground conversations about gender and power, media impact on girls, media activism, and social constructions of femininity."

Lyn Mikel Brown, Professor of Education, Colby College, and author of Packaging Girlhood

"Instead of a static essay on a comic book character, director Guevara-Flanagan broadens the scope to give the superhero angle its proper historical and societal perspective. Wonder Women! fills a niche in feminist collections."

Ellen Druda, Library Journal

"Drawing together central themes within the fields of women’s and gender studies – beauty, body, sex, power, violence, and media – this film will assist teachers in demonstrating the relevance of feminist criticism to the media-saturated, celebrity-obsessed, and digitally-enhanced culture in which our students live."

Desiree Henderson, Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program and Assoc.Professor of English, Univ. of Texas at Arlington

"WONDER WOMEN! reveals the complicated negotiations girls and women face as we attempt to achieve confidence, strength, and agency in a society often at odds with those goals."

Mary Celeste Kearney, Associate Professor of Film, Television and Theatre, University of Notre Dame

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

  • Audience Award, Indianapolis International Film Festival
  • Best Documentary Award, Dallas VideoFest
  • Best Documentary and Best Director, BendFilm Festival, Oregon
  • Audience Award for Best Documentary and Jury Award for Most Promising Filmmaker, Spokane International Film Festival
  • WIFTS Foundation International Visionary Award for Best Documentary (Political), The Women’s International Film and Television Showcase
  • South by Southwest Film Festival
  • Seattle International Film Festival
  • Belfast Film Festival
  • New Orleans Film Festival
  • Mill Valley Film Festival
  • Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
  • American Film and Video Festival
  • Doc NYC
  • Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
  • Glasgow Film Festival
  • Femcine Film Festival, Chile
  • International Women\'s Film Festival Seoul

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Kristy Guevara-Flanagan

Kristy Guevara-Flanagan’s first feature-length film was an acclaimed documentary covering four years in the lives of four adolescent girls. GOING ON 13 was an official selection of Tribeca, Silverdocs, and many other film festivals worldwide. It received funding from ITVS and was broadcast on public television in 2009. Kristy has also produced and directed several short films, including EL CORRIDO DE CECILIA RIOS, winner of the Golden Gate Award for Best Bay Area Short Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival, a chronicle of the violent death of 15-year-old Cecilia Rios. It was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and subsequently broadcast on the Sundance Channel. Her most recent feature, WONDER WOMEN! THE UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICAN SUPERHEROINES, traces the evolution and legacy of the comic book hero Wonder Woman as a way to reflect on society’s anxieties about women’s liberation. The film garnered numerous awards, premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in 2012 and was broadcast on PBS's Independent Lens series in 2013. Now an assistant professor at UCLA, Kristy holds a MFA in Cinema from San Francisco State University. WHAT HAPPENED TO HER continues her exploration on the themes of gender and representation. (5/17)

Kelcey Edwards

Kelcey Edwards is an award-winning filmmaker, published author and art curator. She holds an MFA in Documentary Film from Stanford University. Edwards’ films have screened at top film festivals including SXSW, Silverdocs AFI/ Discovery Channel Film Festival, True/False and San Francisco Film Festival among others. Her films have been broadcast on PBS Independent Lens and received support from the Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute, California Humanities, IFP and Chicken and Egg Pictures. Her fiction has appeared in storySouth and Border Crossing, her art writing has been published by Hamptons Art Hub and Salomon Contemporary, and her nonfiction has been published in New Voices from Stanford (Stanford University Press) and Persistence of Vision (Austin Film Society). Edwards moved to New York City in 2008 and worked as a film and commercial producer while lecturing at colleges and universities including Pratt, Barnard, The New School and NYU Tisch. She recently launched Iron Gate East, an exhibition series based in the Hamptons and New York City inspired by her pioneering gallery, Iron Gate Studios, which she co-founded in Austin in 2003. (01/20)

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