Despite the 1960s free-love and alternative culture, many women found that their lives and expectations had barely altered. But by the 1970s, the Women's Liberation Movement was causing seismic shifts in the march of the world's events, and women's creativity and political consciousness was soon to transform everything - including the face of publishing and literature. In 1973 a group of women got together and formed Virago Press; an imprint, they said, for 52 per cent of the population. These women were determined to make change - and they would start by giving women a voice, by giving them back their history and reclaiming women's literature.
Bejeweled Fishes captures the spectacular beauty of the myriad fishes inhabiting coral reefs of the Tropical and Eastern Pacific. This Wild Window was captured in the Maldives Islands, Fiji, the Philippines, Mexico, California, and Indonesia.
Beneath Hong Kong's glittering facade, Filipina domestic helpers work in relative anonymity and for near-slave wages. In a beauty pageant like no other, five helpers give themselves makeovers for a day and gleefully reclaim their dignity.
The last day of Patrizia Cavalli’s home. Before it’s all gone.
Women’s voices rise to deliver testimonies of victims of sexual violence. By reconstructing a story with these fragments of experience, a societal portrait is painted throughout the documentary. Like a mosaic, the pieces stick together to build a unique story that could belong to any human.
Of Maine’s more than 5000 commercial lobstermen only 4% are female. The Captain celebrates that fearless minority through the lens of Sadie Samuels. At 27 years old, she is the youngest and only female lobster boat captain in the Rockport, Maine harbor. Despite the long hours and manual labor of hauling traps, Samuels is in love — obsessed even — with what she calls the most beautiful, magical place on the planet. Her love for lobster fishing was imparted early in her childhood by her dad Matt, who has been her mentor and inspiration since she was a little girl in yellow fishing boots.
In a dark, ambiguous environment, minuscule particles drift slowly before the lens. The image focuses to reveal spruce trees and tall pines, while Innu voices tell us the story of this territory, this flooded forest. Muffled percussive sounds gradually become louder, suggesting the presence of a hydroelectric dam. The submerged trees gradually transform into firebrands as whispers bring back the stories of this forest.
In this documentary, 6 protagonists tell their personal experiences of abortion and sterilization, from unplanned pregnancy to a happy mother and vice versa from the wanted child to regretting motherhood.
The planet’s busiest maternity hospital is located in one of its poorest and most populous countries: the Philippines. There, poor women face devastating consequences as their country struggles with reproductive health policy and the politics of conservative Catholic ideologies.
A Nepali mountaineer risks everything on a record-breaking Mount Everest climb to secure a brighter future for her daughters.
Huiju learned of her biopsy test results, but lied to her mum about them. Feeling guilty about the lie, she embarks on her journey to find cancer patients who have the same diagnosis as hers and learns about their experiences. After hearing their stories, she finds the courage to tell the truth to her mum.
In the spotlight of global media coverage, the first transgender woman ever to perform as Don Giovanni in a professional opera, makes her historic debut in one of the reddest states in the U.S.
Delphine Seyrig reads passages from a Valerie Solanas’s SCUM manifesto.
Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette's documentary on growing up with his schizophrenic mother -- a mixture of snapshots, Super-8, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, and more -- culled from 19 years of his life.
The compelling story of an extraordinary woman's journey from her birth in a paper thin shack in the cotton fields of Georgia to her recognition as a key writer of the twentieth Century.Walker made history as the first black woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for her groundbreaking novel, The Color Purple.
Shut Up and Sing is a documentary about the country band from Texas called the Dixie Chicks and how one tiny comment against President Bush dropped their number one hit off the charts and caused fans to hate them, destroy their CD’s, and protest at their concerts. A film about freedom of speech gone out of control and the three girls lives that were forever changed by a small anti-Bush comment
The wild beauty of the Bella Coola Valley blends with vivid watercolor animation illuminating the role of the Nuxalk oral tradition and the intersection of story, place and culture.
The elders of the Kichwa community of Sarayaku preserve the history of their land for the youngest. They save the knowledge of their traditions against modernity and the invasion of their territory.
The Road Forward is an electrifying musical documentary that connects a pivotal moment in Canada’s civil rights history—the beginnings of Indian Nationalism in the 1930s—with the powerful momentum of First Nations activism today. Interviews and musical sequences describe how a tiny movement, the Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood, grew to become a successful voice for change across the country. Visually stunning, The Road Forward seamlessly connects past and present through superbly produced story-songs with soaring vocals, blues, rock, and traditional beats.
TOMBOY explores the obstacles that young girls encounter on the recreational stage, the stereotypes, language issues and cultural disparities that follow, and ultimately the insufficient media coverage and compensation that afflicts elite professional athletes seeking full recognition for their talents. The journey of the female athlete is often discouraging, and despite progress achieved during the Title IX era, gender equity in athletics has a long way to go.