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Beginning in the 1970s, female filmmakers started taking the simple, radical step of allowing women space and time to talk about their lives. For this series, guest curator Nellie Killian revises and expands the landmark program she premiered at New York’s Metrograph, framing her selection in a new conversation with actor Jenny Slate. Made in a range of idioms encompassing cinema verité, essay film, and agitprop, the assembled works all share a startling intimacy between camera and subject. These revealing portraits capture women sharing moments of joy and strength, talking about trauma and sexual identity, summoning new language to describe long-simmering injustices, making jokes, and organizing for the future.
Looking for a place to start?
Begin with Julia Reichert and Jim Klein’s Growing Up Female, a feminist landmark hailed by Susan Sontag, Gloria Steinem, and Elizabeth Hardwick. Then watch Betty Tells Her Story, in which a twice-told anecdote becomes a haunting exploration of body image, self-worth, and appearance. After that, Leilah Weinraub brings the series’s concerns into the twenty-first century with Shakedown, a propulsive, radical portrait of a Los Angeles lesbian strip club.
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