Club des Femmes celebrates 40 years of Circles and The Cinema of Women (COW)/Cinenova - feminist film distribution, with an event that showcases some of the films from the catalogue. The screenings feature a number of short low-budget experimental films that represent embryonic explorations into identity, race and desire (Focii) and early work of British based lesbian filmmakers. Taking their inspiration from the black, gay/lesbian and women's liberation movements of the period, the films are concerned with resistance & activism, as well as with passion & poetry. At the time, film was able to provide a voice and a visibility for the community of lesbians that was growing in Britain, and internationally. Circles/Cinenova gave crucial support to a diverse range of feminist filmmakers, by making work available, and so helping build an audience; a role that continues to this day.
The programme will provide an introduction that will situate the films historically, and explore their links with contemporary queer cinema.
Some of the filmmakers as well as former Circles/Cinenova workers will be attending the event.
13:30 - The 80s
FOCII | dir. Jeanette Iljon | UK | 1975 | 9min
AN INVITATION TO MARYLIN C | dir. Jacqui Duckworth | UK | 1983 | 12min
17 ROOMS (OR WHAT DO LESBIANS DO IN BED?) | dir. Caroline Sheldon | UK | 1985 | 10min
TEA LEAF | dir. Ruth Novaczeck | UK | 1986 | 10min
EAST END UNDERGROUND MOVEMENT | dirs. Bev Zalcock & Sara Chambers | UK | 1985/95 | 4min30sec
16:00 - The 90s
CHAMELEON | dir. Tanya Syed | UK | 1990 | 4min
BHANGRA JIG | dir. Pratibha Parma | UK | 1990 | 4min
ONE AND THE OTHER TIME | Sarah Tuner | UK | 1990 | 5mins
EERIE | dir. Sandra Lahire | UK | 1992 | 1min
SEX LIES RELIGION | Annette Kennerley | UK | 1993 | 6min
MILK AND GLASS | Sarah Pucill | UK | 1993 | 10min
DEVIANT BEAUTY | Tina Keane | UK | 1996 | 12min
MEMORY TRACKS | dir. Jamika Ajalon | UK-USA | 1997 | 10min
Presented by Selina Robertson & Bev Zalcock
This programme is presented in collaboration with Cinenova, who celebrate the 40th anniversary of their parent organisations, Circles – the UK’s first artists’ film and video distributor for women and COW – the UK’s first feminist distributor.
About Cinenova
Cinenova is a volunteer-run charity preserving and distributing the work of feminist film and video makers. Cinenova was founded in 1991 following the merger of two feminist film and video distributors, Circles and Cinema of Women, each formed in 1979. Cinenova currently distributes over 300 titles that include artists’ moving image, experimental film, narrative feature films, documentary and educational videos made from the 1920s to the late 1990s. The thematics in these titles include oppositional histories, post-colonial struggles, representation of gender, race, sexuality, and other questions of difference and importantly the relations and alliances between these different struggles.
Cinenova offers access to an extensive archive and advice relating to moving image work directed by makers who identify as women, transgender, gender non-conforming and gender non–binary. Cinenova is informed by its history as a key resource in the UK independent film distribution sector and internationally.
The Cinenova Working Group, founded in 2010, oversees the ongoing work of preservation and distribution, as well as special projects that seek to question the conditions of the organisation.