Women in Film: BBC Introducing Arts

An expository and poetic documentary that invites thinkers and artists from different areas to analyze the construction of images that affect the female body in issues that cross genders.

From her precocious status as a sex symbol to her consecration as a filmmaker, Jodie Foster's story is about a feminist struggle, albeit atypical, fought on and off the screen. This film sets out to retrace her remarkable journey within the Hollywood industry.

In East Los Angeles, three young misfit women find solace in an unapologetic, feminist bicycle crew. They call themselves the Ovarian Psycos Bicycle Brigade.

All too often, every great female rock musician has to answer a predictable question - what is it like being a girl in a band? For many, the sight of a girl shredding a guitar or laying into the drums is still a bit of a novelty. As soon as women started forming their own bands they were given labels - the rock chick, the girl band or one half of the rock 'n' roll couple. Kate Mossman aims to look beyond the cliches of fallen angels, grunge babes and rock chicks as she gets the untold stories from rock's frontline to discover if it has always been different for the girl in a band.

Right at the heart of the debates on the discrimination of women in the film industry, this documentary raises questions, while offering a voice to women and their cinema. Catherine Breillat, Claire Denis, Mira Nair, Margarethe Von Trotta, Ulrike Ottinger, Micheline Lanctot, Rakshnan Bani-Etemad, María Novaro but also the names of the less visible directors of the general public. Joining the filmmakers are the voices and comments of producers, film specialists and archivists through whom our images are meticulously preserved.

Singled [Out] tells the story of five educated women in four corners of the world: Jules in Melbourne, Manu in Barcelona, Shu and Yang in Shanghai, and Melek in Istambul -they all travel solo in a world where pairing up is the norm. Together with the voices of some well-known experts in the areas of sociology, law and demography, the film unveils modern love in the era of choice, and is a journey to the heart of being a single woman today.

Elas da Favela

This documentary interweaves celluloid and voice recordings by Maya Deren, and colleagues who knew her firsthand: Jean Rouch, Jonas Mekas, Alexander Hammid, Cecile Starr etc. Maya Deren (1917-1961) was an experimental filmmaker. In the 1940s and 1950s she made several influential avant-garde films, such as Meshes of the Afternoon (1943). Images from this and her other work are used in this documentary. You can also hear her voice, as well as accounts by contemporaries such as Jean Rouch and Jonas Mekas.

Betty reveals her history through the images of her art and shows how she used her creative talent to promote women's sexual pleasure and health. Nearly 200 pieces of original art created over the last 45 years make this film a must see for art and sex lovers alike. Beginning with the early years of self-exploration to the courageous sharing of her own sexual growth, Betty Dodson teaches as she entertains. See this feminist icon as she has never been seen before, the artist, the sexual innovator and humanist all rolled into one dynamic person.

'Trailblazers in Habits' is an intimate portrait of a group of American Catholic nuns, the Maryknoll Sisters, who have accompanied the disenfranchised in their struggle for social justice. By turns tragic and joyous, yet always inspirational, this insightful documentary is a revealing portrait of these courageous women. A moving and absorbing chronicle that spans 100 years and several continents, the film celebrates the intelligence and tenacity; the love, compassion and generosity of these early feminists.

A tribute to the poet Patrizia Cavalli

When we give something a name, does it lose or make sense? A female body proposes an apparently simple game - it asks women from diverse generations the definition of something that in theory unifies them. Part of a transmedia project, the film is the main entrance to a narrative that has many points of view and no right answer.

This revealing documentary offers a rare view of daily life in West Africa. Shot in Senegal, Selbe focuses on the social role and economic responsibility of women in African society. Because men often leave their communities to earn money in the city, women are left with sole responsibility for their families. Through the character of Selbe we observe how one woman's personal struggle reflects the broader issues faced by many women in developing countries.

In 1989, this film was part of the PAMEZ project in Senegal which was part of the sea program of the CCFD, Catholic Committee against Hunger and for Development. It presents the economic and social role of women in the Casamance region for the development of fishing. These women who process and market fish, who are responsible for management, have a voice and express their opinion.

Raffaello. Il mito e la modernità

Compared to girls, research shows that boys in the United States are more likely to be diagnosed with a behaviour disorder, prescribed stimulant medications, fail out of school, binge drink, commit a violent crime, and/or take their own lives. The Mask You Live In asks: as a society, how are we failing our boys?

A plea for the liberation of female sexuality in the 21st century. The film questions millennial patriarchal structures, as well as todays omnipresent porn culture. It accompanies five extraordinary women around the globe, reveals universal contexts and shows the successful fight of these courageous women for a self-determined female sexuality and an equal, passionate relationship between the sexes.

Held in 1972 at 533 N. Mariposa Street, Los Angeles was one of the most important cultural events in the United States: "Womanhouse," a feminist art installation and performance space organized by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro.

Their documentary is the result of an ethnographic audiovisual research. How to research the theme woman and all the themes that surround it, respecting the place of speech of each one? Based on an interview with eighteen women cultural makers from the interior of São Paulo, we open the way to listening and dialogue on macro-themes permeated by their trajectories. The stories are theirs, but they're ours. Expand the debate about being a woman, about feminism and about our pains and delights, about our contradictions and dreams. The documentary is then a research, an open process of listening, reinterpreting and giving voice to them.

Fragments