Feminist Media Part of Life_Next 40 Yrs

7/30/2019 Feminist Media Part of Life_Next 40 Yrs

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Ariel Dougherty, Scriptfor New School Talk, March 5, 2012Feminist Media A Part of Life: The Next Forty YearsA Celebration of the 40th (43rd) Anniversary of Women Make Movies

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Thank You: Jennifer Baumgardner,

New School Gender Studies Program,Sheila Paige for focus; Jean Shaw, JudyArcuna, & Harriet Kriegel for use oftheir prints, and a big thanks toAlexandra Kelly for creating her YouthMedia Map and producing this event.

2Last December [2011] I did a net search Film

Club and this photo appeared!!

This is Young Filmmakers Foundations (YFF)after school film teaching storefront which theystarted in 1968. It was on Rivington Street.

Sheila Paige taught in this spaceI taught a number of Saturday programs in this

storefront.These experiences of ours with YFF were the

educational and aesthetic roots of Women MakeMovies (WMM).

http://urt.parsons.edu/urt/research/project/urban-media-

archaeology/youth-media-map4

The City Wide meetings of the WLM were thepolitical roots

These are the three Founders of WMM:

Sheila PaigeAriel DoughertyDelores Bargowski

5This photograph was taken in the Fall of 1969

by Rodger Larson, one of YFF Founders. Im withJaime Barrios, another YFF founder. Lynn Hoferwas the third YFF founder.

Jaime and I lived together 1969 to 1975.


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Outline for NS / WMM presentation page 2

DeeDee Hallecks contribution to youth andindependent media is so VAST we would be hereall week discussing all she did. She organized thevery first youth media conference in 1976. Morerecently she facilitated Democracy Nows moveinto television. She is the mother of all youth filmteaching as far as I know, having started MovieClub at the Henry Street Settlement.

When we were coming up with names forWMM I distinctly remember Sheila Paige sittingupside down in this high back chair at my loft.When we settled on W-M-M- we called DeeDeebecause it was borrowed from the title of her firstfilm, Children Make Movies (1961). DD wroteabout us calling her up some years back on adocument on the internet.

7Jaime and Bob Polin, who ran Youth Film

Distribution Center, edited at the basement of YFFuptown offices on 53

rdStreet.

Testing Testing How Do You Do? an early shortof Sheila Paige, Mother America and The WomensHappy Time Commune were all edited at Film Clubon Rivington St.

8 For a number of reasons this is one of myfavorite photos on the Youth Media Map!

What do you all see? [Its all girls watching!]

My first position with YFF was teaching atJohn Bowne HS in Queens. I had 150 studentsover the course of a day. We worked in Super 8and regular 8, relying on home cameras of thekids.

The projector automatically self threaded.But still I would almost bodily have to pick upgirls to get them to the projector to put on theirfilms. They were so intimidated learning even themost basic technical skills.

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Having women film teachers was critical toprovide a role model for young girls.

Valerie Petrak, on the cover of YoungAnimators was a student of Scott Morris andmine in a program for high school students that weconducted at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.


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10 Apart from our teaching, Sheila and Icontinued to work on our own films. This is thecrew for my film Sweet Bananas. Cabell Smith, inthe middle, shortly after this became the firstsound woman at NBC. On the far left is MarionHunter who has become a highly respected filmeditor.

A group of us under the umbrella of WMM

tried during the Spring and Summer of 1971 to getthe Womens Silver Screen Roadshow rolling.But we could never get any support.

11 In 1972 Sheila and I applied to the New York StateCouncil on the Arts. That March we incorporationWMM as a 501(c) 3. We were awarded $9000 to start

a workshop specifically to give community women,everyday women the opportunity to create their own

stories on film.In large part this award came because of Sheilas

and my track record with YFF. And because I had

experience conducting a number of start up projectsand reporting on their activities.

12 While Sheila and I scouted several differentneighborhoods in Manhattan for the workshop, we

selected Chelseain the 1970s a very different

community than it is today. It was a socio-economically diverse community. And I lived there.

For a while we called the workshop ChelseaPicture Station with the hope of one day becoming a

head end community TV channel. High Hopes!! in

those first days of cable and community access.

13 We set up our workshop in a church basement, aspace we shared with AA meetings and other

community groups. It was St Columba on West 25th

Stin the middle of all the ILWGU buildings.

Flyers were pasted up in supermarkets andlaundromats.

And women came. We figured for about every 3

who came, one stayed to actually make a film.

14 Five shorts were finished that first year. Thefilmmakers attended an international womens film

festival in Toronto in June 1973 and talked about themaking of their films. Sheila and I encouraged thatspeaking with the films was as important as makingthem.

This image of Jean Shaw at the tripod, directing

her actors in her short, Fear, was published in DerSpeigel. In fall 1973 I flew into Berlin with fifteenhours of US made womens films including all the

workshop movies. The photo encapsulates the essenceof WMM. It made it into German MSM media, but

never into US MSM.


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Clipping from Detroit basedMichigan

Chronicle

From the time we incorporated WMM westarted distribution. Of our own films distributorssaid, women arent an audience.

Second, we knew having a good earned incomewas critical especially if feminism becameunpopular.

Heres where we viewed: Fear,For Better or Worse, andDomestic Tranquility

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Angela Lifsey views footage in WMMs freshlypainted hay loft studio on W 19

thSt.

By Fall 1973 we had outgrown the churchbasement.

With a $14,000 grant from NYSCA in oursecond year we tasked Dixie Beckham withfinding us our own space. We discussed use of thebasement at the Eglin movie theatre. C aty-corner

just in from 8th Ave on 19th was an old carriagehouse set back in off the street. We rented theformer hay-loft for a little over $100 a month.

One of our media makers who made the videotape By and Four Artists, Mary Harrison, rentedthe basement, the former horse stalls, as herpottery studio.

17Once in the new space we could combine office

and workshop. And accomplish more.

Anne Sandys was hired part-time to teach.

Sheila and I had always thought thateducational films on womens issues like awomens sports film as made by graduates ofthese first films could be engaging. However tryas we did, we could never secure funding for thesports film.

18While a strong sense of community among

participants had already evolved, this new space

of our own fostered interaction and activities thathad not been feasible before.

There remains among many of us today adeep awareness and appreciation forcommunity that was unique and compellingfrom that time and experience. Wed havingdancing parties, pot-lucks, other social gettogethers.


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Still frame from Young Braves (1969?)

In his interview for the Youth Media Map,Mike Jacobsohn who recently retired after 30years at ABC states, Im going back to a style Idid 40 years ago. At the Film and Movie Clubs it

was a group effort. You would help them; in turnthey would help you. I would create some scenes

out of my imagination and they would participatein it. It is kind of a documentary, but also a story.

It is a blend.

Within WMM we called this fanumentary.

24In 1970 or it might have been 71 Rodger

Larson did a series of film presentations here atthe New School with a double projection. A DWGriffith film played on one screen and an AndyWarhol film on the other. Rodger showed howWarhol went back to Griffiths roots, setting up a

stationary camera in which the action took placelike a tableau before it.

25Also in both cases Griffith and Warhol

worked with ensembles, groups of creative,charismatic people. There might be a loose storyline, but there was not a formal script. Thenarrative was carried by each characters ownwords and their interaction with one another.

26The Womens Happy Time Commune was

shot in the Summer of 1970 in this genre.Directed and edited by Sheila and produced andshot by me, this not quite feature length movie(55 mins) remains one of the most unique films toemerge from the early days of the WLM.

It is a feminist Western.

About five years ago I showed it atSwarthmore and was struck by how relevant itremains today... discussions about religion,separatist living, moving West....banding togetherand not.....conflicts and differences.


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27This 1975 article by E. Ann Kaplan

underscores the uniqueness of the WomensHappy Time Commune in the context of thegrowing body of feminist film back then. Theworks back then were almost completely alldocumentaries or experimental works. Kaplandiscusses feminist filmmaker and critic Claire

Johnstons view: She calls cinema verite ordocumentary films the cinema of non-intervention, and argues that they are dangerousbecause they promote a passive subjectivity atthe expense of analysis.

Kaplan writes of Sheila Paige: Drawing onher teaching experience, where she had hadsuccess getting children to think through theirpersonal stories, Paige wanted to allow womento enact dreams and fantasies that interestedthem...... An open, humorous attitude prevails.

Whether consciously or not, the people in thefilm, and Paige, in her excellent editing, parodybasic sexist institutions in our culture as well asstock, familiar, male/female stereotypes andclassic situations in the Western film genre............the film is useful in revealing to women thekind of mental world many of us live in..... Theunresolved ending was fitting for Paiges overallintentions in the film: she wanted to help usunderstand the reality of our situation as womenin a patriarchal culture, an understanding that is

a necessary precondition for discoveringstrategies for change.

29 In summary, the experiment of WMMearly days is incomplete.

Full creation of new a genre of film withfeminist imagination, vision and fantasy remainsbefore us. Still today there are far too fewdramatic independent works by women. Veryvery few dollars are coming into feminist mediaof all kinds.

Healthcaringwas a critical and financial

successproviding basic support for WMM for anumber of years. I am delighted to say that anenterprising academic is currently engaged in astudy on the vital role that this film played insustaining WMM for a while both financially andemotionally. And I thank Deedee Halleck forpassing on to me this information.

HCwas a significant model that needed to beduplicated. That was hard work. And leadershipwithin WMM changed.


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In seeing WHTCagain I came to see how Ineglected my responsibility to encourage Sheilastalents to develop. Within feminism the work oforganizational developmenta home to nurtureour dreams, space and time for personal artisticgrowth and the possibility of financial stabilityhave still yet to mesh.

Sadly too WHTCno longer is in distributionas Filmmakers Cooperative where it wasavailable has now folded.

30On the other hand today there are a number of

inheritor girl media teaching projects that haveemerged. This is very exciting.

The recession and arduous demands havealready snatched a few from us. Like Chica Lunafrom here in NYC (pictured here), Third WorldMajority, and San Diego Womens Film Festival.

31 But Reel Grrls out of Seattle is thriving. Herethey are featured in, Wonder Woman the UntoldStory of an American Superheroine, whichpremieres in a few days at SXSW.

Now over a decade old they have been able tosecure important National Endowment for theArts support.

32 A Reel Grrls graduate has spawned a newproject, imMEDIAte Justice in Los Angeles. It

empowers young women from LA to share theirexperience of reproductive justice through film.

Ilena Jemenez has a blog FeministTeacherabout her experiences as a educator at ElizabethIrwin High School. She offers courses onfeminism, LGBT literature, Toni Morrison, andmemoir writing here in New York City.

33 Listen Up is a national network for youthmedia, a lot of programs that have emerged out of

schools like the one I taught at John Bowne, 43years ago.

While the site is no longer active is holds lotsof resources on their site including a list of youthfilm festivals.

MediaRights.org runs an annual festival withmany youth films. And connects many kinds ofsocial-change media works and organizations.


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34There are writing programs like Girls Write

Now, here in NYC where girls are mentored bywomen writers.

Or, New Moon Girls, a magazine for younggirls 8 - 14 written by their peers. It also has asafe on line space for interaction of this

community.35 The young women and girls of the

Empowered Fe Fes and DIVAS use artistic formssuch as dance, spoken word performance, and themedia arts to examine and express issues ofviolence, abuse and disability rights with an eyeon empowerment, creativity and independence.

The videos of this disability rights group weremade at Beyond Media Education in Chicago,another feminist media teaching organization.

36SPARK was a Summit in 2010. Now

SPARK is a girl-fueled activist movement todemand an end to the sexualization of women andgirls in media. We're collaborating with hundredsof girls 13-22 and more than 60 nationalorganizations to reject the commodified,sexualized images of girls in media and supportthe development of girls' healthy sexuality andself-esteem.

37 Actress Geena Davis spoke at the SPARK

Summit. She called upon the young women,Surround yourselves with empowering media.This is not only a call to young women, but youngmen as well. We all need healthy images in ourlives.

This is our collective challenge over the

next forty years. How are we going to move thegrowing wealth of women created media thatsimmers in a subterranean plateau buried by away over rich dominate culture into theforefront of our lives?

38 Womens Film Festivals still are the primaryway in which new womens film reach anaudience.

The Boyle Heights Latina Independent FilmExtravaganza, has a mission to build a network ofLatina filmmakers that will draw attention to thegrowing number of Latinas working behind thecamera.


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39 Too, in order to expand outreach maybe it istime to revive the early WMM vision of theWomens Silver Screen Roadshow.

There is so much media now that could travelinto communities not just within the City, butacross the country. Let us not forget the womenand girls in South Dakota that were deprived ofseeingHealthcaring30 years ago.

Further the technology is now so fascicle thatnew films can easily be made and edited along theway. This would serve to create a forum for localissues, as they vary from community tocommunity.

40Here is how one set of women filmmakers

did a recent series of screenings about one film on living in travel trailers.

The screen is attached to the awning arms of

a 23 foot Airstream.

41We need more women owned television and

radio stations. But first lets get Laura Flandersback on the air.

Lets build out what women are already doing.Internet tv show like Sister Outsider,HomeGirlTV, feminist community video siteslike NIST.tv. There are hundreds and hundreds.

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Download Policy: http://bit.ly/11KksUJ

We all have a role to play in making thishappen. Make sure that you are watching womenmade films, aim for 50% of the time. Arewomens books being reviewed in your localpapers? If not write a letter to the editor. If youare frustrated by the testosterone levels of aCharlie Rose or The American Experience onyour PBS channel, find out when their next boardmeeting is. Attend and tell them what you think.

That is not only your right, its an obligation.Assist in enacting the womens media policystatement from the NCWO.


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43A gendered analysis of all kind of media and

its function to advance womens issues is criticalto improving the life of women and girls; as wellas men and boys.

The academic community needs to step up tothe plate and become much more active to study,analyze and report on 1) the wealth of women

made media and those organizations, projects andoutlets that foster its development; and 2) analyzecorporate medias systematic failure in servingwomen.

44While it is not the only stumbling block,

MONEY is a big one. Investors, donors, fundersand foundations all need to understand thepurpose of women directed media and vastly

expand support for this community ofindependent media producers. We also needmore organized support through crowd fundingplatforms like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo.

Its estimated that women donors do now orin the near future, will control between two-thirdsand three-quarters of all planned giving assets.*

Katherine Swank http://www.prospectresearch.com/prospect-research/marketing-planned-gifts-to-women.htm

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It is equally critical to have women-identifiedwomen on panels awarding money.

My observation is a number of fundssay offilmsstay away from any strongly feministcontent.

It is fear? Denial? Ignorance?Without supporting feminist content we are

stuck in what Johnston said 40 years ago: Weonly promote a passive subjectivity at theexpense of analysis.

In an organic, intuitive way WMM in its earlydays tried to provide a filmic view through this....


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48 In a recent article by Judith Marquand, onEconomics as a public art, she unmasksneoliberalism and its role in the global marketcollapse: She writes: ......But uncertainty isdifferent. It arises when you do not have enoughexperience of the phenomenon in question to be

able to calculate it statistically.It arises whenyou are concerned with a particular instance

rather than with the generality of cases...........We need to recognise that the practice of

economic policy is an art, and that it needs to bea very public art, widely debated in every

democratic society. We need a public literate in arevised economics, who can take active part.

This is also my view on women directed

media. Our challenge is to create the pictures

about the economies of womens story telling.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/judith-marquand/economics-as-public-art

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The year 2046 will be the 150 anniversary ofAlice Guy Blanches first production, TheCabbage Fairy. Let us honor this first womandirector in film production. We can target thatyear, a little under forty years from now, as a goalfor achieving full media justice for women in theUnited States.

Sheila will be 100 and Ill be 99!

Thank you!

@MediaEquity

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Feminist Media Part of Life_Next 40 Yrs