Week 1- Just for Starters
Jason Billings-Cray and Eleanor Vaughan set out to explore the diverse and groundbreaking work of a selection of female Documentary film-makers. Our project and investigation will comprise of biographies, filmographies, and analysis of these innovative women's work and their role within the documentary film world.
Follow our blog as we continue and develop our project, as an online archive of 'Female Documentary Film-makers'.
Week 1- Continued....(still starting)
Ellie and Jason are together working on a project to create a viral and physical documentation of Female Documentary film-makers. This Blog is sets out to documnent our combined efforts of research, investigation and analysis; you can follow the individual journey's on the 'Pages' link at the top right hand corner. Enjoy, and we will keep you posted!!
Week 2- Why this project matters?
There are a vast number of female film makers, female critical theorists and feminist documentary films that have been omitted from the archive on documentary available in Goldsmiths Library.
There are a vast number of female film makers, female critical theorists and feminist documentary films that have been omitted from the archive on documentary available in Goldsmiths Library.
This disparity in the archive means vital and necessary discourses of reinterpretation and criticality on documentary aren't being represented.
So in the next couple of weeks, we are aiming to post numerous links to texts, films, websites and exhibitions that we feel will contribute to the archive on feminism and documentary.
So in the next couple of weeks, we are aiming to post numerous links to texts, films, websites and exhibitions that we feel will contribute to the archive on feminism and documentary.
Our list (so far!) of just a few female documentary film-makers to check out:
• Pinny Grylls http://www.invisiblefilms.co.uk/
• Ricki Stern http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0827830/
• Annie Sundberg http://www.breakthrufilms.org/the-filmmakers-bck/
• Mira Hamermesh http://www.mira-hamermesh.co.uk/
• Mahnaz Afzali http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0012789/
• Kay Mander http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/559726/
• Margot Benacerraf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margot_Benacerraf
• Julie Bridgham http://pipl.com/directory/people/Julie/Bridgham
• Kathleen Shannon http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=33303
• Jennifer Baichwal http://www.mercuryfilms.ca/index.php?show=1
• Helene Klodawsky http://heleneklodawsky.com/
• Lucía Gajá http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1333964/
• Natalia Almada http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/makers/fm514.shtml
• Christiane Burkhard http://mediaartists.org/content.php?sec=artist&sub=detail&artist_id=771
• Sonia Goldenberg http://en.saladomedia.com/advertising/executive-producers/20/
• Joan Churchill http://joanchurchill.com/
• Laura Poitras http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Poitras
• Barbara Kopple http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/55/koppleiv.php
• Angela Melitopoulos http://www.eipcp.net/bio/melitopoulos
• Trinh T. Minh-ha http://www.trinhminh-ha.com/
If you have any suggestions of Female Documentary Film-makers you think we should consider, but have omitted from the above list- please leave a comment and let us know.
Relevant links to all of the listed documenters can be found on the Pages.
Week 3 – Useful texts/videos
Articles and Books that inspired our research:
Websites:
‘Fact not Fiction: Women Documentary Directors of the
WOMEN MAKE MOVIES website.
Check it out: http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/c780.shtml
Books:
Publishers Manchester University
Alice
(An extremely comprehensive resources list on feminsim and documentary can be found at the back of Diane Waldman's and Janet Walker's 'Feminism and Documentary' )
Please attach more links/references for books/texts/websites that you feel would contribute to this list/project
[1]Fact not Fiction: Women Documentary Directors of the
Articles and Books that inspired our research:
Websites:
‘Fact not Fiction: Women Documentary Directors of the Americas
The Sari Soldiers, by Julie Bridgham
“Interesting, isn’t it, how women tend to get short shrift in recorded history. Who knew that the eminent John Grierson, considered by many to be the godfather of documentary, had two sisters, Ruby and Marion, who were documentary directors in their own right? What of Charlotte Zwerin, long-time collaborator with the Maysles brothers and the other “fathers of verité” like Drew, Leacock and Pennebaker on such landmark documentaries as Salesman and Gimme Shelter? And who has heard of verité documentaries like Geri Ashur’s Janie’s Janie and Madeline Anderson’s I Am Somebody that came out around that same time? It makes one wonder: what makes a documentary mainstream and celebrated and who is doing the deciding?”[1]
Pepita Ferrari on May 25, 2010
Read it: http://artthreat.net/2010/05/women_documentary_filmmakers/
Oshima Nagisa, Ai No Corrida (In the Realm of the Senses, 1976)
“Does truth determine politics or politics truth? It is a question of how the production of truth has always been influenced and standardized by social power relations.”[2]
Hito Steyerl
Documentarism as politics of truth
05/2003
WOMEN MAKE MOVIES website.
The Heretics, Joan Braderman, 2009.
Check it out: http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/c780.shtml
Books:
Women of vision: histories in feminist film and video
Author: Alexandra Juhasz
Publishers: U of Minnesota
Read it:
New Challenges for Documentary
Editors Alan Rosenthal and John Corner
'WOMEN'S CINEMA AS COUNTERCINEMA'
Author: Claire Johnston. PDF file
Publisher: Edinburgh University
Representing the woman: cinema and psychoanalysis
Author: Elizabeth Cowie.
Publisher: Minneapolis , University of Minnesota
Author: Teresa de Lauretis
Publisher: Macmillan London
The Feminist Intervention: Film and theory: an anthology / edited.
Author: Robert Stam and Toby Miller
Publisher: Malden , Mass.
Ultimately We Are All Outsiders: The Ethics of Documentary Filming
Author: Calvin Pryluck’s
Publisher:
The Postmodernist Turn in Anthropology: Cautions from a Feminist Perspective
Editors: Frances
Publishers: Signs15.1 (Autumn 1994) 7-33
Theorizing Documentary
Author: Micheal Renov
Publisher: New York
Experimental ethnography: the work of film in the age of video
Author: Catherine Russell
Publisher Duke University Press, 1999
F is for phony: fake documentary and truth's undoing
Authors: Alexandra Juhasz, Jesse Lerner
Read it:
(An extremely comprehensive resources list on feminsim and documentary can be found at the back of Diane Waldman's and Janet Walker's 'Feminism and Documentary' )
Please attach more links/references for books/texts/websites that you feel would contribute to this list/project
[1]Fact not Fiction: Women Documentary Directors of the Americas
[2] Documentarism as politics of truth, Hito Steyerl 05/2003 http://www.republicart.net/disc/representations/steyerl03_en.htm
Week 4- Some more useful resources
Cinenova Women's Film and Video Distributor:
"Cinenova is a non-profit organisation dedicated to distributing films and videos made by women. Formed in 1991 from the merger of two feminist distributors, Circles and Cinema of Women, Cinenova provides the means to discover and watch experimental films, narrative feature films, artists film and video, documentary and educational videos."[1]
Check it out: http://www.cinenova.org.uk/
"Sheffield Doc/Fest 2011 will take place between 8-12 June"
Cinenova Women's Film and Video Distributor:
"Cinenova is a non-profit organisation dedicated to distributing films and videos made by women. Formed in 1991 from the merger of two feminist distributors, Circles and Cinema of Women, Cinenova provides the means to discover and watch experimental films, narrative feature films, artists film and video, documentary and educational videos."[1]
Check it out: http://www.cinenova.org.uk/
"Sheffield Doc/Fest 2011 will take place between 8-12 June"
Watch it: http://sheffdocfest.com/
'Sheffield Doc/Fest brings the international documentary family together to celebrate the art and business of documentary making for five intense days in June. Sheffield is fast becoming known as one of the top places in the world for people from the documentary and digital industries to get together - to meet, to screen their work, share knowledge, do business, make new contacts and discuss innovations and challenges they are facing in the ever changing media landscape.’[2]
Check it out: SHEFFIELD DOC/FEST ANNOUNCES YOUTH JURY
Week 5 - 'THE SHOWROOM' & 'Invisible Films'
A visit to London's 'THE SHOWROOM' was a great experience in seeing how other groups/ organisations are attempting to publicise and vocalise 'Feminism and Documentary'. The experience also showed how our individual efforts (mine and Ellie's) are experiencing a becoming. A becoming of a web, interactive and interconnected displays of Feminism and Documentary.
Check out The Showrooms website, for more information- http://www.theshowroom.org/index.html:
"The Showroom is a centre for contemporary art that is focused on a collaborative and process-driven approach to production, be that artwork, exhibitions, discussions, publications, knowledge and relationships.
We are committed to supporting artists who have not previously had significant exposure in London. Our unique focus is on commissioning work that is generated through open and discursive means between artists, specialists, public and local stakeholders, connecting otherwise disparate fields and communities."
You can also follow and contact The Showroom, I'll provide a link for you-
Pinny Grylls' 'Invisible Films' is also a great example of a vocalising of Feminism within documentary, I found her website very interesting and intriguing- http://www.invisiblefilms.co.uk/about.html:
"Invisible Films is an independent film production company based in Hackney, East London. Founded in 2002, the company's films have been distributed with acclaim internationally via film festivals, television and the internet."
A visit to London's 'THE SHOWROOM' was a great experience in seeing how other groups/ organisations are attempting to publicise and vocalise 'Feminism and Documentary'. The experience also showed how our individual efforts (mine and Ellie's) are experiencing a becoming. A becoming of a web, interactive and interconnected displays of Feminism and Documentary.
Check out The Showrooms website, for more information- http://www.theshowroom.org/index.html:
"The Showroom is a centre for contemporary art that is focused on a collaborative and process-driven approach to production, be that artwork, exhibitions, discussions, publications, knowledge and relationships.
We are committed to supporting artists who have not previously had significant exposure in London. Our unique focus is on commissioning work that is generated through open and discursive means between artists, specialists, public and local stakeholders, connecting otherwise disparate fields and communities."
on Facebook andTwitter. Sign up to our email list for further news and announcements by emailinginfo@theshowroom.org
Pinny Grylls' 'Invisible Films' is also a great example of a vocalising of Feminism within documentary, I found her website very interesting and intriguing- http://www.invisiblefilms.co.uk/about.html:
"Invisible Films is an independent film production company based in Hackney, East London. Founded in 2002, the company's films have been distributed with acclaim internationally via film festivals, television and the internet."
Week 6: The New
From the research that I have carried out thus far, my so called 'foundations', I have drawn a link between the issues of Feminism and Documentary, and Blogging. The connective thread (or web, if we are to continue with that analogy) is the 'new'. The forthcoming weeks of my discussion will be concerning the new.
I have found a short film made by Pinny Grylls, made inconjunction with Dove, as an advertising campaign. The film explores women's first, and face value reactions to other women- dealing with issues of 'the other, the unrepresented, intuition, and the new'. I feel this short effectively demonstrates and represents the next stage in my Documentary Project process.
Week 7: History of the Feminist Documentary
We have noted a disparity within the field of film theory, the archive and the blog- whereby the topic of this blog, 'Feminism and Documentary was wrongfully omitted. Somewhere between Feminist Film Theory and Documentary Film Theory, the pages got lost, Feminist Documentary Film Theory is missing.
We have noted a disparity within the field of film theory, the archive and the blog- whereby the topic of this blog, 'Feminism and Documentary was wrongfully omitted. Somewhere between Feminist Film Theory and Documentary Film Theory, the pages got lost, Feminist Documentary Film Theory is missing.
Week 8: History of the Blog
We have n=both been interested with the ideas and theory surrounding the archive and the blog, both notting the implications and ramifications of archiving. Jason in particular has paid special attention to 'our' format, the blog. If the topic of the blog interested you, please see Jason's page for more information.
The 'Blog' is a very modern phenomenon, extremely different to the act of diary keeping, the blog is not hidden under the mattress a private and personal text. The blog demands our attention, without it, the blog does not exist. Last year Jason wrote a blog on 'John Soane: The Original Blogger' , within this essay styled as a blog, he explored the notion that the famous architect Sir John Soane was the original blogger.
The essay explored the ideas of blogging, what it means to blog, how this is different from keeping a diary, the history of the blog, and how the defination of text as a blog implicates the author and the subject.
Jason will provide a link to this Essay/Blog on his page as he feels that is very useful over-view of this thing called 'Blogging'
Week 9: Perfectly poised to Reap the Benefits
Blogging all started with people writing about their daily events, the mundane, the menial, and the down right uninteresting. Somehow these Blogs gained a following, and the hobby and action of blogging became mainstream. Today there are far more interesting and diverse blogs, and blogging has even become a legitimate form of communication, publication and journalism. In Mark Treymayne’s ‘Blogging, citizenship, and the future of media’ a pivotal essay by Sharon Meraz, discusses the importance of Blogging. Meraz illustrates the importance of the Blog as anew media source. Disputing the idea that the Internet could be harbouring a singularity of privileged voices, Meraz reveals the Internet and Blog to be a true form of democracy. Blogs are online forums where politics, society, and still the mundane can be openly discussed.
In 'Films from the Margins: Women, desire and the documentary film in India' Swati Bandi states the following:
"Feminist documentary film can be described as explicitly engaging in facilitating articulations of feminist desires for women's autonomy and control over their bodies, voices and therefore stories."pp 45
I feel that this understanding of both the 'Blog' and 'Feminism and Documentary' as new, affords the opportunity for both areas to exploit each other. the Blog and the internet are a perfect vehicle for this previously forgotten and omitted topic, vocalising and making it visible.
Week 10
Week 10, this is the last week of our journeys to create both a blog and an essay on 'Feminism and Documentary'. We hoped you have enjoyed following our journey, our struggles, and our excitement- as we aimed to fill the unwanted vacancy.
We felt that it was important to allow you to view our final essays, so when we are able we will upload them to the site.
You can find Jason's essay- 'Blogging Women Back into Documentary History' on his page
and
You can find Ellie's essay- Feminsim and Documentary- on her page.
Week 10, this is the last week of our journeys to create both a blog and an essay on 'Feminism and Documentary'. We hoped you have enjoyed following our journey, our struggles, and our excitement- as we aimed to fill the unwanted vacancy.
We felt that it was important to allow you to view our final essays, so when we are able we will upload them to the site.
You can find Jason's essay- 'Blogging Women Back into Documentary History' on his page
and
You can find Ellie's essay- Feminsim and Documentary- on her page.
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