Waking Up to Rape
Director: Meri Weingarten
Subject: Documentary
Year: 1985
Running Time: 35 minutes
Distributor: Women Make Movies
Comments: "If I were to choose only one film on sexual assault to show to a
class or to the general public, I would select Waking Up to Rape. This is a
powerful film that examines the personal trauma of rape, its long-term
psychological effects, societal attitudes about sexual assault, and the problem
of racism in the criminal justice system. Three rape survivors (Black, Chicana,
and white) courageously describe their rape experiences (acquaintance rape,
incest, and stranger rape). The film also features scenes with women police
officers, counselors, and self-defense instructors. Unlike most films, it
offers strong support for women viewers who are coping with their own sexual
assault experiences. I highly recommend it for college classes, everyone who
works with sexual assault survivors, and the general public." -Feminist
Collections
Walker; Alice Walker
Subject Documentary
Running Time 33 minutes
Distributor Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Comments: "Being black, being a woman, and being a writer is just the most
wonderful challenge. It's like having three eyes, three hearts, rather than
one," says the author of The Color Purple in this profile, as she
relives her journey from an impoverished childhood in rural Georgia to the
peace and creativity of her present life in northern California. Alice Walker
describes how the civil rights movement transformed her life, defines her
concept of "womanism," and explains her recurrent theme of a woman's recovery
of wholeness through resistance to racism and sexism.
Walker; Alice Walker and The Color Purple: Inside a Modern American
Classic
Subject Interview
Artists Alice Walker, Steven Spielberg
Running Time 60 minutes
Distributor Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Comments: This masterfully filmed interview with the Pulitzer Prize-winning
author juxtaposes her comments and literary recitations with dramatic
interpretations from Steven Spielberg's film. Walker reveals the characters as
actual people from her childhood. Describing the work as honoring the dignity
of all people, especially black women, Walker offers the novel as an example of
the power of art as a weapon against racism and sexism. The importance of
interpreting literary tradition in the context of history and culture is
examined. Director Steven Spielberg is also interviewed. A BBC Production.
The War at Home
Director Glenn Silber and Barry Alexander Brown
Year 1979
Running Time 100 minutes
Comments: Nominated for an Academy Award and widely considered one of the
most important political films ever made, The War at Home vividly
chronicles the anti-war protest movement of the 1960's and 70's. The film
provides an illuminating look at the home front of the Vietnam War- the way
that students and other anti-war dissidents waged on America's political
system, military and notions of patriotism.
Warrior Marks
Director Pratibha Parmar/ Executive
Producer Alice Walker
Year 1993
Subject Educational Documentary
Language English
Running Time 54 minutes
Distributor Women Make Movies
Comments: Warrior Marks is a poetic and political film about female
genital mutilation from the directors of A Place of Rage, presented by
the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Color Purple and
Possessing the Secret of Joy. Female genital mutilation affects one
hundred million of the world's women and this remarkable film unlocks some of
the cultural and political complexities surrounding this issue. Interviews with
women from Senegal, Gambia, Burkino Faso, the United States and England who are
concerned with and affected by genital mutilation are intercut with Walker's
own personal reflections on the subject. "When I saw the completed Warrior
Marks I recognized it as a symbol of our mutual daring and trust. It is a
powerful and magnificent film, thanks to Pratibha's brilliance as a director,
constructed from our grief and anger and pain. But also from our belief in each
other, our love of life, our gratitude that we are women of color able to offer
our sisters a worthy gift after so many centuries of tawdriness, and our
awareness of those other "companion spirits" we know are out there." Alice
Walker Walker and Parmar also collaborated on a book about their experience of
making the film called Warrior Marks: Female Genital Mutilation and the Sexual
Blinding of Women
War Stories
Director Gaylene Preston
Year 1995
Running Time 95 minutes
Distributor First Run Features
Comments: Seven women share their extraordinary true love stories set during
the Second World War. Simply constructed as a series of interviews overlaid
with beautifully restored archival footage and popular songs of the War period,
War Stories presents seven women of different classes, races and cultural
backgrounds speaking about the impact of World War II on their lives.
Revelation follows revelation as stories of sexual passion, illicit love,
heroic adventure, and painful death are uncovered.
War Zone
Director Maggie Hadleigh-West
Subject Documentary
Running Time 40 minutes
Distributor Media Education Foundation
Comments: What does it feel like to be a woman on the street in a cultural
environment that does nothing to discourage men from heckling, following,
touching or disparaging women in public spaces? Filmmaker Maggie Hadleigh-West
believes that the streets are a war zone. Armed with only a video camera she
both demonstrates this experience and, by turning and confronting her abusers,
reclaims space that was stolen from her. Drawing upon her own experiences, as
well as that of other women across the country, she demonstrates how women
operate in enemy territory whey they venture into the public space of the
street. Forcing men to confront the motivations for their own actions, War
Zone lays bare the normally unspoken gender rules of the street where
access to women's bodies is regarded as a male right. War Zone speaks
to women in a very personal way, giving voice and expression to an experience
that silences and sidelines women's subjectivity. It speaks to men equally
powerfully, awakening them to the experience of women, and allowing for new
understandings of their behavior towards women.
The Watermelon Woman
Director Cheryl Dunye
Year 1997
Subject Feature Film
Language English
Running Time 85 minutes
Distributor First Run Features
Comments: Prompting an infamous little ruckus at the NEA because of its
interracial lesbian lovemaking scene, Cheryl Dunye's startlingly fresh debut is
a film within a film. Dunye, playing herself, is a young black woman making a
documentary about Fae Richards, an obscure black actress known as "the
Watermelon Woman." As Cheryl doggedly researches Fae's life, she discovers that
the actress had a romance with her white lesbian filmmaker. Like Fae, Cheryl
has an affair with a white woman, Diana (Guinevere Turner, Go Fish), and both
Fae and Cheryl question this attraction.
The Way Home
Director Shakti Butler
Subject Documentary
Running Time 92 minutes
Distributor New Day Films
Comments: The Way Home shows what happened when eight ethnic councils of
women came together to talk honestly about race, gender and class in the U.S.
The result is an unpredictable collection of stories that reveal the
far-reaching effects of social oppression and present an inspiring picture of
women moving beyond the duality of black and white. Over the course of eight
months, sixty-four women, representing a cross-section of cultures in the U.S.,
met in councils separated by ethnicity--Indigenous, Asian, European, African,
Arab, Jewish, Latina, and Multi-Racial. Their candid conversations offer rare
access into multi-dimensional cultural worlds mostly invisible to outsiders.
With uncommon courage, the women speak their hearts and minds about resistance,
love, assimilation, beauty standards, power, school experiences, and more.
Woven throughout are collages of historical and family photos, dance sequences,
visual images, and music from over twenty cultures -- all of which expand the
impact of the women's words.
We Dared To Win: 25 Years of Ivy League Women?s Athletics
Subject Lectures
Language English
Distributor Trustees of Dartmouth College
We Just Telling Stories
Director: Larry Andrews
Subject: Documentary
Running Time: 55 minutes
Distributor: Cultural Odyssey
Comments: Nominated for a Golden Gate Award by the San Francisco
International Film Festival and winner of "Best Documentary" by the San
Francisco Black Film Festival in June 2001. The documentary was created by film
artist and U.C. Santa Cruz Professor Dr. Larry Andrews and Director/ Founder of
the Medea Project, Ms. Rhodessa Jones. The film documents The Medea
Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women, a women's theater workshop
founded and directed by Ms. Rhodessa Jones in the San Francisco County Jail. It
follows the theatrical development process, which unveils the stories of four
women and other inmates. The film reveals unique techniques that Ms. Rhodessa
Jones has developed for working with incarcerated populations -- an alternative
rehabilitation process. As the stories unfold, the viewer gains an
understanding of racial, social, economic, and psychological factors shared by
women in American jails.
Welfare Warriors
Director Kathy L. Tiger Paschal & Barbara LaMonica
Year: ?
Subject: Documentary
Running Time 36:40
Distributor :Vision Quest Film and Video Productions
Comments: Welfare Warriors is a grassroots movement of single mothers on
welfare who are combating the current attack on the poor-which is better known
as the "welfare reform bill". Through lobbying, public speaking, and direct
action the women dispel the negative myths about welfare mothers, and assert
that "an attack on poor women is an attack on all women." Welfare
Warriors interweaves the women's personal statement with comments by
social critics and advocates who put today's efforts to dismantle the welfare
state in historical perspective from FDR's New Deal to Clinton's vow to "change
welfare as we know it."
What I Want My Words To Do To You
Director: Judith Katz
Subject: Documentary
Year: 2003
Runnning Time: 90 minutes
Distributor: PBS (www.pbs.org)
Comments: This program goes inside a writing workshop led by playwright Eve
Ensler, consisting of 15 women inmates of New York's Bedford Hills Correctional
Facility, most of whom were convicted of murder. The women delve into and
expose the most terrifying places in themselves, as they grapple with the
nature of their crimes and their own culpability. The film culminates in an
emotionally charged prison performance of the women's writing.
What's the Common Ground on Abortion
Running Time 30 minutes
Distributor Common Ground Productions
Comments: This video is part of a series called, "Search for Common Ground".
The program starts with abortion statistics and a fair review of the pro-life
and pro-choice movements. It features a debate between Kate Michelman of the
National Rights Action League and Dr. John Willke, M.D. of the National Right
to Life Committee. The debate is moderated by a conflict resolution expert.
During the debate a "scoreboard" keeps track of the agreements and the
disagreements of the two advocates.
What We Leave Behind
Director: Salome Chasnoff
Year: 2000
Subject: Documentary
Language:
Running Time: 22 minutes
Distributor: Beyondmedia
Comments: Women former prisoners use personal stories, poetry, group
discussions and on-the-street interviews to analyze the issues of women in
prison and the impact on their children. They ask challenging questions about
women’s imprisonment and they look to young people for fresh answers. The
result is a rich tapestry of perspectives that undermine stereotypes about
women in prison and demonstrate the power of disenfranchised groups to shape
their own media images.
When A Kid Is Gay
Director
Year 1995
Subject Documentary
Language English
Running Time
Distributor WGBH Boston
Comments: Meet the members of SWAGLY, a private peer-support group for gay
and lesbian teens in Worcester, MA, and hear some stories that range from
shocking to poignant. Nineteen-
Year-old Chris has just been "outed" by his brother and fears that his
father, who calls him a freak, will kick him out of the house or "beat the
living crap out of me". Jason a high-school senior, wrestles with a more
philosophical dilemma: having chosen to become a born-again Christian, he takes
literally the biblical texts that say his lifestyle will send him to hell. Amy,
an easygoing college student, love sto visit her familybut can never bring her
girlfriend home to meet them. On the other hand, there is 25-
Year-old group leader Greg, a soft-spoken thoughtful son of a minister,
whose parents, the only ones to appear on camera, accept and love him
unconditionally.
When Abortion Was Illegal: Untold Stories
Director: Dorothy Fadiman, Daniel Meyers, Beth Seltzer
Year: 1992
Subject: Documentary
Running Time: 28 minutes
Distributor: Women Make Movies
Comments: 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. Women who risked their lives and
doctors who risked their licenses speak frankly to bring alive the era of
back-alley abortions, revealing the physical, legal, and emotional dimensions
of abortion when it was a crime.
White Dresses
Director Ana Coyne Alonso
Year 1996
Subject Feature
Running Time 32 minutes; 40 seconds
Distributor NOON pictures
Comments: In 1990, Nicaragua held a presidential election and the world
watched as Violeta Chamorro, a widow and grandmother, campaigned on crutches
against Daniel Ortega, the young revolutionary then in power. The campaign was
a war of symbols and she wore white. In her, the Nicaraguan people saw peace,
salvation and the Virgin Mary. On election day, Violeta Chamorro won. Woven
into this documentary footage is an impressionistic look at the four rites of
passage for women in a Latin, Catholic country: baptism, confirmation, marriage
and death. Beautifully conceived and nicely executed,White Dresses acts as the
filmmaker's meditation on her country and her place.
Whoopi Goldberg Live
Year 1986
Subject Stand Up Comedy
Language English
Artists Whoopi Goldberg
Running Time 75 minutes
Distributor Vestron Incorporated
Comments: Whoopi Goldberg brings her widely acclaimed talent and five of her
unforgettable characters to your home video screen. She defines the word
versatile, with an incredible display of her acting ability in a presentation
of firve characters that couldn't have less in common.
With Babies and Banners
Director Lorraine Gray
Subject Documentary
Running Time 45 minutes
Distributor New Day Films
Comments: The classic With Babies and Banners presents, the untold
story of the women who became the backbone of the Great General Motors Sit-Down
Strike of 1937 --United States History's key event in the drive for industrial
unionism. The nation's eyes were on the men inside the auto plants, while women
outside progressed from manning the strike kitchens to leading the famous
Women's Emergency Brigade. Forty years later, nine of these women reunite, and
show the relevance of their experience for people today.
With Fingers of Love
Subject Documentary
Running Time 27 minutes
Distributor Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Comments: The program tells the remarkable story of the Freedom Quilting
Bee, a cooperative founded by poor, uneducated black women and inspired by the
sight of their homemade quilts hanging on a clothesline. In 1966, a group of
black women from Wilcox County, Alabama, stirred by their involvement in the
civil rights movement, founded the quilting cooperative as a means to provide
economic development for their rural community. The cooperative not only raised
living standards for its members, it is credited with igniting nationwide
interest in the art of quilting and inspiring numerous other cooperatives.
Womanhouse
Year 1972
Subject Documentary
Language English
Running Time 43 minutes
Distributor Women Make Movies
Comments: Womanhouse is an historic documentary about one of the
most important feminist cultural events of the 1970s. Judy Chicago (best-known
as the creator of "The Dinner Party") and Miriam Shapiro rented an old
Hollywood mansion and altered its interior through decor and set-pieces to
"search out and reveal the female experience...the dreams and fantasies of
women as they sewed, cooked, washed and ironed away their lives."
Womanhouse is a fascinating historical look at feminism, its reception
in the 1970s, and the ever-important relationship between the art and social
change.
The Woman in Red
Director Gene Wilder
Year 1984
Subject Feature (Comedy)
Screenplay Gene Wilder
Artists Gene Wilder, Gilda Radner, Charles Grodin, Joseph Bologna
Language English
Running Time 87 minutes
Distributor Orion Pictures
Comments: Gene Wilder is Teddy Pierce, a shy, married executive. All Teddy
ever wanted was a little adventure in his life and one day it walked right in,
wearing a red silk dress (and little else). Now Teddy is an obsessed man and
his wife, his friends, and his co-workers are caught up in the comic whirlwind
of Teddy's new passion. A masterfully witty comedy, The Woman In Red
has been called "a well made sex farce", "easy to love" and "Wilder's best film
in years".
A Woman Under the Influence
Director John Casavetes
Year 1999
Subject Feature Film
Language English
Running Time 146 minutes
Distributor Castle Hill
Comments: Mabel Longehetti is wife, mother and primary caregiver to her
family. She has always tried so hard to be what "she thinks" everyone else
wants her to be. But lately she seems to be having a hard time dealing with
everyday life. She has become intimidated by her surroundings, even by her
children. As Mabel struggles to find her identity, people are starting to
wonder if shes cracked up, including her loving but over-bearing husband. It
soon becomes apparent that Mabel can no longer function "normally" and her
husband reluctantly has her committed to a mental institution for six months of
treatment. When Mabel returns home, she must somehow find the strength to pull
her life together and bring some normalcy to their lives. But what exactly is
"normal"?
The Women
Director George Cuker
Year 1939
Subject Feature
Artists Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell
Screenplay Anita Loos and Jane Murfin
Running Time 2 hours, 13 minutes
Distributor Metro-Goldwyn
Comments: This is the story of Crystal (Joan Crawford), Sylvia (Rosalind
Russell), Miriam (Paulette Goddard) and a legion of femme fatales. They're in
shape, in demand...and out to find the men-any men- who can keep them that way!
This is also the story of Mary (Norma Shearer). Uptown yet down-to-earth, Mary
is in style, in love...and out to keep the one man who means everything to her
- even if she has to beat the others at their own game to do it!
Women and Migration
Director Helena Maria Viramontes
Year 2001
Running Time 87 minutes
Distributor Dartmouth College - Women and Gender Studies Program
Comments: A talk given by Viramontes in 13 Carpenter Hall, Dartmouth College
on May 11, 2001. Sponsored by the Women and Gender Studies Program at
Dartmouth.
Women in American Life Program 1: 1861-1880: Civil War, Recovery, and
Westward Expansion
Director The National Women's History Project
Year 1988
Subject Educational Documentary (Black and White)
Language English
Running Time 15 minutes
Distributor The National Women's History Project
Comments: An overview of Women's History in the United States: The twenty
years between 1860 and 1880 saw huge social upheaval in America. The
destruction of southern cities during the Civil War made recovery a painful
process for both whites and Blacks. Although slavery was officially outlawed in
1865, the economic position of Blacks improved very little. The abolitionist
movement added strength to a new movement for civil rights for women. Westward
expansion meant a new life for pioneer families, but it also meant the
destruction of the traditional ways of life for American Indian and Mexican
populations already there.
Women in American Life Program 2: 1880-1920: Immigration, New Work and New
Roles.
Director The National Women's History Project
Year 1988
Subject Educational Documentary (Black and White)
Language English
Running Time 16 minutes
Distributor The National Women's History Project
Comments: An overview of Women's History in the United States: Millions of
immigrants arrived in the United States between 1880 and 1920. Immigrant labor
made possible the rapid industrial growth of the Northeast. Women and children
took jobs in factories and mills. Urbanization created dramatic changes in
family life. To address the social problems which came with these changes, many
women's organizations developed. The long sturggle for woman suffrage achieved
victory with the passage of the 19th amendment.
Women in American Life Program 3: 1917-1942: Cultural Image and Economic
Reality
Director The National Women's History Project
Year 1988
Subject Educational Documentary (Black and White)
Language English
Running Time
Distributor The National Women's History Project
Comments: An overview of Women's History in the United States: Women's
participation in World War I and the suffrage vistory of 1920 gave women a new
self-image and a sense of equal participation in society. The 220s appeared to
be a time of radical changes for women: new job possibilities, new clothing
styles, and new social opportunities. The Depression of the 330s, however,
unravelled many of these changes as women's roles were dictated by the nation's
dire economic situation.
Women in American Life Program 4:1942-1955: War Work, Housework, and
Growing Discontent
Director The National Women's History Project
Year 1988
Subject Educational Documentary (Black and White)
Language English
Running Time 15 minutes
Distributor The National Women's History Project
Comments: An overview of Women's History in the United States:World War II
radically changed women's roles. War production required millions of women to
work in heavy industry as well as in civilian occupations and activities.
Record numbers of married women took jobs, changing the face of the American
workforce. At the war's end a media campaign was begun to get women out of the
workplace and back into their homes again. The early 550s saw massive
suburbanization of American cities, but many women were involved in much more
than homemaking. The 550s also saw the beginning of the Black civil rights
movement.
Women in American Life Program 5: 1955-1977: New Attitudes Force Dramatic
Changes
Director The National Women's History Project
Year 1988
Subject Educational Documentary (Black and White)
Language English
Running Time 25 minutes
Distributor The National Women's History Project
Comments: An overview of Women's History in the United States: The years
between 1955 and 1977 were decades of dramatic change in America. Married
women, most of whom had previously been homemakers, poured into the workforce;
family structures changed and the divorce rate soared. Legislation that had
encouraged American Indians to move to urban centers disrupted their
traditional ways of life. Large numbers of Puerto Ricans and Cubans immigrated
to U.S. cities in the East, bringing new cultural traditions with them. Across
the country, Blacks organized, demanded, and won civil rights which had been
denied for too long. And the feminist movement created new options for women in
both public and private life.
Women in Rock
Director Stephanie Bennett
Year 1986
Running Time 57 minutes
Distributor CD universe
Comments: This entertaining musical survey, produced by the minds behind the
great Beatles documentary THE COMPLEAT BEATLES, not only highlights how diverse
rock's female artists are, but also just how diverse the genre of rock music is
itself. Women in Rock uses rare historical footage, musical
videos, live concert performances, and personal interviews to showcase such
legendary women of rock and roll as soul diva Aretha Franklin,
Spanish-influenced Linda Ronstadt, 60's rock goddess Janis Joplin, pop star
Madonna, and 1980's rockers The Bangles.
Women of Courage
Director :
Year : 1998
Subject Documentary
Running Time:
Distributor K.M. Productions Inc.
Comments: In 1942, America was at war and the need for pilots was great.
Women answered the call and for the first time began flying military aircraft
in a special program. They towed targets for aerial gunners. They tested
tactical aircraft and trained men to fly them. They ferried top secret
documents, and much more. Thirty-eight brave female fliers lost their lives in
service to their country. You will see rare historical footage an hear
remarkable first hand adventures from these brave Women of
Courage.
Women of Hope: Latinas Abriendo Camino
Producer Bread and Roses Cultural Project
Subject Documentary
Running Time 29 minutes
Distributor Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Comments: This program tells the story of Latina women in the U.S. through
portraits of twelve unusual women who have broken new ground in their lives and
achievements. Among those featured in the program are Miriam Colnn, actress and
founder of the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater; Nydia Velzzquez, the first
Puerto Rican Congresswoman; and Sandra Cisneros, Chicana novelist and poet.
Describing their hopes, their dreams, and the paths they took which shaped
their lives, the twelve women share their stories in the context of their
families, their common histories, and their careers. The program includes a
wealth of historical archival footage, and features a soundtrack of diverse and
important Latin music from the 1940s through today.
Women of Summer
Director: Suzanne Baumen and Rita Heller
Year: 1986
Subject: Documentary
Language:
Distributor: Filmakers Library
Comments: Tells the story of the summer program as seen through the eyes of
the alumna fifty years later at a specially planned reunion. Time has not
dimmed the spirit and intellect of the graduates, who talk with passion about
their lives in factories, mills, and unions. They recount the experience of
living through the Depression, the trail of Sacco and Vanzetti, and the New
Deal. The Women of Summer is a story of class and race uniting on the
common goals of education and social justice, weaving together oral histories,
unearthed diaries and letters, and historical footage to recreate the period in
American history between the World Wars.
Women of the Night
Director Zane Buzby
Year 1987
Subject Comedy
Artists Ellen Degeneres, Rita Rudner, Judy Tenuta, Paula Poundstone
Language English
Running Time 56 minutes
Distributor HBO Video
Comments: Four comediennes take the stage at the Palace in Hollywood for an
uninhibited hour of mirth and madness introduced by comic Martin Short.
Women of the Sahel
Director Paolo Quarengna and Mahamane Souleymane
Year 1995
Subject Documentary
Language English
Running Time 52 minutes
Distributor First Run/Icarus Films
Comments: In Niger, a country where only 50 thousand of its nearly 9 million
inhabitants are salaried workers, the work done in the "informal sector," where
revenues are very meager, is essential to the survival of thousands of Nigerien
families. The women of the Sahel region are the pillars of this informal
sector, which accounts for more than half of Niger's economy. While their men
are often away in search of seasonal work in bordering countries, the women
must struggle to help their families survive. Women Of The Sahel
visits with a number of these women as they make peanut oil, extract salt from
earth, and turn gypsum into plaster. The film also introduces the craftswomen
who create marvelously decorated pottery, beautifully woven straw mats, and
intricate leather work. All this is done in the hope of earning a few dollars
per week. As these women are shown at work, and as some of the cooperative
organizations they've organized to mete out loans or to sell product to
wholesalers and exporters are introduced, Women Of The Sahel reveals
one example of the hidden economic infrastructure so important in the
developing world.
Women Vote 2004:; The Margin of Victory
Director:
Year: 2004
Subject: Documentary
Language:
Running Time: 40 minutes
Distributor: Third Wave Television, Inc.
Comments: Women who are experts in the areas of the economy, health,
education, terrorism and security,and the environment give their perspectives.
The video is designed to promote debate and encourage women to vote in
November, 2004.
Women Who Kill
Director:
Subject: Documentary
Language:
Running Time: 51 minutes
Distributor: www.films.com
Comments: Women who kill are a rare breed. Even rarer is a woman who kills
the man she loves. This documentary tells the story of five women who killed
their partners. They describe how they endured years of violent sexual and
emotional torture before they finally snapped. The program focuses on their
intensely personal experiences and on their fight for justice within the
British legal system—a legal system very different from America’s and yet
identically sexist. The program features the case of Kiranjit Ahzuwahlia, who
was jailed for murdering her husband after years of mental and physical abuse.
After an intense campaign, she was finally freed, and so her case shows that
the courts are prepared to recognize the experience of battered women—or at
least this particular case.
Women Who Made The Movies
Year 1992
Subject Documentary
Language English
Running Time 54 minutes
Distributor Women Make Movies
Comments: 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.
Word is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives
Director Mariposa Film Group: Peter Adair, Nancy Adair, Veronica Silver,
Andrew Brown, Robert Epstein, and Lucy Massie Phenix
Year 1977
Running Time 130 minutes
DistributorNew Yorker Video
Comments: Word Is Out: Stories Of Some Of Our Lives is just that: interviews
with 26 very diverse people -- ranging in age from 18 to 77, in locales from
San Francisco to New Mexico to Boston, in type from a beehived housewife to a
sultry drag queen--who speak tellingly and movingly of their experiences as gay
men and women in a way that destroys decades worth of accumulated
stereotypes.
Woolf; The War Within: A Portrait of Virginia Woolf
Directors Joe Fuegi and Jo Francis
Year 1995
Subject Documentary
Running Time 52 minutes
Distributor Arthur Cantor Films Narrator Ian Redford
Comments: This definitive documentary was shot in England as Sissinghurst
Castle with its world-famous garden; the 365-room Knole mansion; the rooms at
Cambridge where Virginia gathered material for A Room of One's Own;
London and Richmond, Charleston and Monk's House, legendary locations in
Bloomsbury history. Among those interviewed on camera are Virginia's niece and
nephew, Angelica Garnett and Quentin Bell; Vita Sackville-West's son and Nigel
Nicolson, and Bloomsbury notables like Frances Partridge and poet-novelist
Stephen Spender. With archival footage, paintings of the period, and haunting
family photos of a Victorian childhood of both beauty and abuse, the film
interweaves the personal story of Virginia Woolf's life and loves with the
turbulent times she lived in. Rare documents, never filmed until now, include
the document in her handwriting used to establish the League of Nations,
newly-discovered letters to her beloved Vita, and the Gestapo list where she
and Leonard were marked for arrest.
Works By Women:From the Heart
Director:
Year: 2000
Subject: Documentary
Running Time: 60 minutes
Distributor: CD Universe
Comments: This film explores twentieth-century art by women, focusing on
nine of thirteen artists whose works compose the Gihon art collection: Works by
Women. The artists provide the dialogue, about artistic techniques employed,
family background, philosophy of art, self-criticism, and success. Artists
featured in the film are: Lynda Benglis, Nancy chambers, Clyde Connell, Janet
Fish, Hermine Ford, Dorothy Hood, Mary McCleary, Gail Stack and Dee Wolff.
Wrestling With Manhood
Director: Sut Jhally and Jackson Katz
Year:2002
Subject: Documentary
Running Time: 60 minutes
Distributor: Media Education Foundation
Comments: Drawing the connection between professional wrestling and the
construction of contemporary masculinity, the video shows how so-called
“entertainment” is related to homophobia, sexual assault and relationship
violence. The creators of this video argue that to not engage with wrestling in
a serious manner allows cynical promoters of violence and sexism an uncontested
role in the process by which boys become “men.” Designed to engage the
wrestling fan as well as the cultural analyst.
Writing Desire
Director: Ursula Biemann
Year: 2000
Subject: Documentary
Running Time: 25 minutes
Comments: A video essay on the new dream screen of the Internet and how it
impacts on the global circulation of women’s bodies from the third world to the
first world. Although under-age Philippine 'pen pals' and post-Soviet
mail-order brides have been part of the transnational exchange of sex in the
post-colonial and post-Cold War marketplace of desire before the digital age,
the Internet has accelerated these transactions. 'Writing Desire' delights in
implicating the viewer in the new voyeurism and sexual consumerism of the Web.
However, it never fails to challenge pat assumptions about the impossibility
for resistance and the absolute victimization of women who dare to venture out
of the third world and onto the Internet to look for that very obscure object
of desire promised by the men of the West.
Writing Women's Lives
Director:
Year:
Subject Documentary
Running Time 60 minutes
Distributor Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Comments: They come from diverse backgrounds and represent a cross-section
of global culture, yet they all share a passion for the written word. In this
documentary, authors Gloria Steinem, Doris Lessing, Amy Tan, Isabel Allende,
Bharati Mukherjee, Harriet Doerr, June Jordan, and Mona Simpson speak out about
their personal lives and openly share their thoughts and feelings on the themes
of childhood; love, marriage, and children; starting out as writers; the
creative process; publishing; politics; philosophy; success; and motivation.
This delightful program is an essential part of any curriculum involving
women's studies, creative writing, or contemporary literature.
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