Back Alley Detroit
Director Daniel Friedman & Sharon Grimberg
Year 1992
Subject Documentary
Language English
Running Time 47 minutes
Distributor Filmakers Library
Comments: The generation that came of age since Roe v. Wade knows little of
the sordid realities once faced by women seeking to end an unwanted pregnancy.
This historical documentary tells the story of illegal abortions as they were
experienced by all kinds of women- rich and poor, white and minority, married
and single. It also chronicles the physicians, the clergy, and the women's
health activists whose quiet defiance of abortion laws stands as a dramatic
unwritten chapter in the history of U.S. civil disobedience. Back Alley Detroit
recalls a period when women lived in terror of unwanted pregnancies, while an
underworld profited from their vulnerability.
Baghdad Cafe
Director Percy Adlon
Year 1988
Subject Feature Film
Language English
Running Time 90 minutes
Distributor Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Comments: From Percy Adlon, the Director of Sugarbaby, an English-Language
film about a friendship between two women at a desert truck stop motel and
diner. One is black and overworked. The other is German and overdressed. A
haunting musical score and a top notch supporting cast, which includes Jack
Palance, makes this sweet comedy starring C.C. Pounder and Marianne Sagebrecht
a delight.
Baker's Men
Running Time: 4:55
Distributor, Producer, Artist/Director: Harriette Yahr
Year: 2002
Comments: Two little girls deconstruct a nursery rhyme. A film about boys,
girls and playground philosophy.
Barbie Nation
Director Susan Stern
Year 1997
Subject Documentary
Language English
Running Time 53 minutes
Distributor New Day Films
Comments: The Barbie Doll is not just the world's most popular toy, she's a
Rorscach test, revealing attitudes about sexuality, body image, gender roles
and creativity in an increasingly mass produced world. Journeying from Barbie
conventions to anti-Barbie demonstrations, from girls' play dates to Barbie web
pages, Barbie Nation is the story of Barbie creator and Mattel co-founder Ruth
Handler. Handler's ironic rise and fall brings Barbie Nation to a climax that
is about the creation of femininity and the marketing --and subversion -- of
femininity's icon.
Bar Girls
Director Marita Giovanni
Year 1995
Subject Feature (Comedy)
Artists Nancy Allison Wolfe, Liza D'Agostino
Screenplay Lauran Hoffman
Language English
Running Time 95 minutes
Distributor Orion Home Video
Comments: A funny and fresh romantic comedy featuring a group of women whose
lives and loves intertwine against the backdrop of a Los Angeles lesbian bar.
The film centers around Loretta (Nancy Allison Wolfe), a clever yet insecure
cartoon writer, and Rachel (Liza D'Agnostino), a lovely, commitment-shy
actress. Together, they face their fear of past loves and pain and start anew.
But their hangout, local lesbian establishmen Girl Bar, soon becomes a catalyst
for conflict as old girlfriends resurface and new hurts are inevitably
unleashed. Bar Girls is an honest, witty, and passionate gender variation on
one of the most maddening rituals of all timeÉ the dating game.
Bastard Out of Carolina
Director Angelica Huston
Year 1996
Subject Feature
Artists Jennifer Jason-Leigh, Michael Rooker, Jena Malone, Ron Eldard
Screenplay Anne Meredith
Language English
Running Time 101 minutes
Distributor BMG Entertainment
Comments: Anney Boatright, young and single, gives birth to a daughter - an
illegitimate child - nicknamed "Bone" because her Uncle Earl says, "She ain't
no bigger than a knucklebone." Although she grows up poor in South Carolina in
the 1950's, Bone and her mother share a deep and loving bond. Daddy Glen,
Anney's new husband and Bone's new stepfather, becomes jealous of the powerful
bond between mother and daughter.
Battle For the Minds
Director Steven Lipscomb
Year 1997
Subject Documentary
Language English
Running Time 75 minutes
Distributor Battle For the Minds, Inc.
Comments: Battle For the Minds is a stunning expose of the conservative
takeover of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. With
shocking honesty, Lipscomb explores the rising tensions within the Southern
Baptist world as he focuses on one woman's struggle against the movement's
religious leaders and their views on the role of ordained women in the Baptist
church. The film's resonance lies in its far-reaching application. The growing
fundamentalist influence in the world of the Southern Baptist Convention serves
as a microcosm for the alarming outbreak of the intolerant religious right in
many areas of our society. A fresh new talent, Lipscomb intriguingly conveys
the chilling whirlwind of controversy in this evocative piece of work.
Beautiful Thing
Director Hettie MacDonald
Year 1997
Subject Feature Film
Language English
Running Time 90 minutes
Distributor Columbia Tristar
Comments: One of the best gay films to come out of Britain in Years. With
Linda Henry, Glen Berry and Scott Neal. "A warm and funny love story.
Refreshingly spunky and unsentimental" (Michael Musto, Village Voice).
Berkeley in the Sixties
Director Mark Kitchell
Year 1990
Subject Documentary
Running Time 117 minutes
Distributor First Run Features
Comments: The Sixties come to life in this gripping film. Berkeley in the
Sixties captures the decade's events -- the birth of the Free Speech Movement,
civil rights marches, anti-Vietnam War protests, the counter-culture, the
women's movement, and the rise of the Black Panthers -- in all their immediacy
and passion. Dramatic archival footage is interwoven with present-day
interviews and 18 songs from the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, The Band and many
others.
Bernice Sandler: Senior Scholar (2 vol.)
Year 2002
Subject Lecture
Language English
Running Time 2 Volumes, 78 minutes and 105 minutes
Distributor Trustees of Dartmouth College
Comments: Bernice Sandler was a Dartmouth College Women's Research and
Education Institute Senior Scholar in Fall 2002.
Better Than Chocolate
Director Anne Wheeler
Year 1999
Subject Feature Film
Language English
Running Time 102 minutes
Distributor Trimark Home Video
Comments: When Maggie falls into a passionate, physical love affair with
Kim, she has to keep her relationship a secret from her mother. This proves to
be very difficult when Mom moves in with her. Wendy Crewson, Karen Dwyer and
Christina Cox star in this very sexy lesbian romp. "Brims over with good humor
and high spirits and has moments of stunning eroticism" (Kevin Thomas, Los
Angeles Times).
Beyond Black and White
Director Nisma Zaman
Year 1994
Subject Documentary
Language English
Running Time 28 minutes
Distributor Women Make Movies
Comments: Beyond Black and White is a personal exploration of the
filmmaker's bicultural heritage (Caucasian and Asian/Bengali) 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 the Glass Ceiling
Year 1992
Subject Documentary
Artist Susan Rook
Language English
Running Time 41 minutes
Distributor Cable News Network
Comments: Half the work force is locked out of the highest echelons of
corporate power: half the talent; half the potential new ideas; half the
brainpower that represents the competitive edge in the 21st century. Women have
been trapped below an invisible glass ceiling, able to see the executive suite,
but unable to enter. Those who do, tend to be relegated to a "pink ghetto" of
executive jobs in marketing, advertising and human relations -- locked out of
real decision-making positions. Now, CNN's award-winning documentary team,
"Special Reports," takes us Beyond the Glass Ceiling for an in-depth
examination of the challenges and opportunities ahead for women in the
executive suite.
Birth: Eight Women's Stories
Subject Documentary
Running Time 70 minutes
Distributor Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Comments: This program follows eight women giving birth in a variety of
circumstances, including natural births at home and in the hospital, a
Caesarian, twins, and a water birth. With commentary by mothers, partners,
obstetricians, and midwives, and extensive footage of childbirth, this program
captures firsthand the experience of this intimate and exciting moment.
Bishop; Voices and Visions: Elizabeth Bishop
Producer Lawrence Pitkethly
Year 1995
Subject Documentary
Artist Elizabeth Bishop
Language English
Running Time 60 minutes
Distributor Mystic Fire Video
Comments: A genius of complex forms, Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) was
preoccupied with perception and the boundaries of consciousness. Her poems were
often fanciful and always accessible. Exotic documentary footage heightens the
magical realism of this seasoned traveler's work. In her poetry the integrity
of all life is felt. Commentators include Mary McCarthy and Octavio Paz. Poems
include The Moose, Pink Dog and One Art.
Black, Bold and Beautiful: Black Women's Hair
Director Nadine Valcin
Year 1999
Running Time 40 mins
Distributor Women Make Movies
Comments: 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. Filmmaker Nadine
Valcin meets a diverse group of black women who reveal how their hairstyles
relate to their lives and life choices. "Black, Bold and Beautiful" celebrates
the bonds formed as women attend to each other's hair while exploring how
everyday grooming matters tap into lively debates about self-determination and
society's perceptions of beauty.
Black Women On: The Light, Dark Thang
Director Black Women On Productions, LLC
Year 1997
Running Time 52 mins
Distributor Women Make Movies
Comments: "Black Women On: The Light, Dark Thang" explores the politics of
color within the African-American community. Women of hues--from honey-vanilla
to brown-sugar chocolate--speak candidly about the longstanding "caste system"
that permeates black society. These women share provocative, heart-wrenching
personal stories about how being too light or too dark has profoundly
influenced their life and relationships--from childhood on and throughout their
adult years. Originating in a culture of slavery, the "light, dark thang" still
persists. Even today it haunts black women's individual and collective
memories. Both entertaining and transformative viewing, "Black Women On: The
Light, DarkThang" combines personal interviews and historical footage with
literary and dramatic vignettes.
Black Women Writers
Subject Documentary
Running Time 28 minutes
Comments: Many black men in America say they are getting a bum rap from
black women writers. They accuse these writers of achieving success by focusing
criticism on black males. In this specially adapted Phil Donahue program, Alice
Walker, Michelle Wallace, Ntosake Shange, Angela Davis, and Maya Angelou argue
that the criticism is a reflection of the problem of self-image these men
have.
Blank Point: What Is Transsexualism? (The)
Director Xiao-Yen Wang
Year 1991
Subject Documentary
Language English
Running Time 57 minutes
Distributor The Beijing-San Francisco Film Group
Comments: The Blank Point: What is Transsexualism? focuses on two
male-to-female transsexuals and one female-to-male transsexual who talk about
their psychological and physical changes during their transition. They talk
about adjusting to a new identity, about family and societal rejection, about
their sexuality, about their hopes and feelings.
Body Beautiful
Director Ngozi Onwurah
Year 1991
Running Time 23 mins
Distributor Women Make Movies
Comments: This bold, stunning exploration of a white mother who undergoes a
radical mastectomy and her Black daughter who embarks on a modeling career
reveals the profound effects of body image and the strain of racial and sexual
identity on their charged, intensely loving bond. At the heart of Onwurah's
brave excursion into her mother's scorned sexuality is a provocative
interweaving of memory and fantasy. The filmmaker plumbs the depths of maternal
strength and daughterly devotion in an unforgettable tribute starring her
real-life mother, Madge Onwurah.
The Body of A Poet
Director Sonali Fernando
Year 1999
Running Time 29 minutes
Distributor Women Make Movies
Comments: 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.
Born in Flames
Director Lizzie Borden
Year 1983
Language English
Running Time 90 minutes
Distributor First Run Features
Comments: Set in America ten years after the Second American Revolution,
Born in Flames is a comic fantasy of female rebellion. When Adelaide
Norris, the black radical founder of the Woman's Army, is mysteriously killed,
a seemingly impossible coalition of women -- across all lines of race, class,
and sexual preference -- emerges to blow the System apart.
The Bostonians
Director James Ivory
Year 1984
Subject Feature Film
Language English
Running Time 120 minutes
Distributor Merchant Ivory Productions
Comments: "Nineteenth-century passions are ignited when young feminist
Varena Tarrant (Madeleine Potter) takes Boston by storm. Her outspokenness
touches Olive Chancellor (Vanessa Redgrave), a wealthy suffragette, and her
cousin Basil Ransom (Christopher Reeve), who finds Varena's beauty
irresistible. Olive tries to shield Varena while molding her into a leader for
the women's movement, but a part of Varena's heart belongs to Basil, who seeks
her hand in marriage. Nominated for 2 Academy Awards, including Vanessa
Redgrave for best actress, Merchant Ivory Productions' film adaptation of this
classic Henry James novel is abolutely breathtaking (From the makers of Academy
Award winners Howard's End and A Room With A
View)."
A Boy Named Sue
Director Julie Wyman
Year 2000
Running Time 57 mins
Distributor Women Make Movies
Comments: Julie Wyman's compelling documentary chronicles the transformation
of a transsexual named Theo from a woman to a man over the course of six years.
The film successfully captures Theo's physiological and psychological changes
during the process, as well as their effects on his lesbian lover and community
of close friends. Taking full advantage of the unlimited access she received
into an extraordinarily personal process, Wyman carefully composes a moving
story about gender identity, relationships, and how even things that seem
permanent can change. A Boy Named Sue is one of the best videos to
date on female-to-male transsexual experience. Wyman spent six years taping
Sue's transformation into Theo and then organized a huge archive of material
into a moving, informative and smart rendering of what a difference sex
reassignment surgeries can make not only to the transsexual himself but also to
all those in his immediate circle. Theo is a great subject and Wyman is a
talented and imaginative documentarian. If you are looking for a sensitive and
sophisticated representation of transsexual experience, look no further. Judith
Halberstam, University of California, San Diego.
Boys Don't Cry
Director Kimberly Peirce
Year 1999
Subject Feature Film
Language English
Running Time 118 minutes
Distributor 20th Century Fox
Comments: A true story about hope, fear, and the courage it takes to be
yourself, Boys Don't Cry is "the kind of movie that can reach and
touch anyone" (Roger Ebet, Chicago Sun-Times). Newcomers Hilary Swank and Chloe
Sevigny star in this powerful film inspired by the life of young Teena Brandon,
who decides to live as a man named Brandon Teena until her secret is exposed
with shocking consequences.
The Brandon Teena Story
Director Susan Muska and Greta Olafsdotte
Year 1998
Subject Documentary
Running Time 88 minutes
Distributor Bless Bless Productions
Comments: To his girlfriends, he was the perfect boyfriend. To his killers,
he was a freak. In the end, Brandon Teena became an American tragedy. Winner of
Best Documentary awards at the Berlin and Vancouver film festivals and the true
story upon which the critically acclaimed Boys Don't Cry is based,
The Brandon Teena Story reveals how sparks from sexual ambiguity and
individuality can ignite incomprehensible violence. By the time Teena Brandon
was 21, she was living in Falls City, Nebraska, and assuming the identity of a
man. There, Brandon dated several women, showering them with flowers, gifts and
compliments. Forged checks to pay for the courtship landed him in jail, and his
true gender was revealed and so began the events that led to Teena Brandon's
end.
Breaking the Rule of Thumb
Director Andrea K., Elovson
Year 1997
Running Time 35 minutes
Distributor Women Make Movies
Comments: Combining powerful interviews with documentary footage, this
timely and compelling videotape takes a comprehensive look at the issues still
confronting battered women twenty years after the beginning of the domestic
violence movement. Featuring the stories of three women - one a police officer
- who went through the Philadelphia family courts to ensure their safety,
Breaking the Rule of Thumb examines contemporary domestic violence in
terms of changing historical definitions of abuse. Incorporating individual
stories into a strong argument for legal reform, filmmaker Andrea Elovson
exposes how domestic violence's seemingly personal gender issues are
inextricably tied to flawed ideas of civil justice.
Breasts: A Documentary
Director Meema Spadola
Year 1996
Running Time 50 minutes
Distributor HBO
Comments: From a breast-feeding mother to a 420 pound comedienne; from a
transsexual and a stripper--both with implants -- to a 24 year old woman with a
breast reduction; from two mother/daughter teams to two women with
mastectomies. Twenty-two everyday women -- most of them topless -- introduce
you to the secrets, the sensations, the surprises and the stories that lie
hidden in their anatomy. It will change the way you see the world -- or at
least one part of it.
Bringing It All Back Home
Director Chrissie Stansfield
Year 1987
Subject Educational Documentary
Language English
Running Time 48 minutes
Distributor Women Make Movies
Comments: This fascinating documentary analyzes how the patterns of
international capital investment and the exploitation of Third World women
workers in free trade zones are being brought home to the First World. Issues
discussed include: the internationalization of our local economies, the growing
schism between the rich and poor and the changing nature of women's work.
Bronski 02F: GLBT 47 George Mansour #1 and #2
Year 2002
Subject Interview
Language English
Bronski 02F: GLBT 47 What Does It Mean To Be Gay and Greek at
Dartmouth?
Year 2002
Subject Interview
Language English
Comments
Final project for GLBT 47 by John Ashworth ?03 and Sara Baron Œ03
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