50 Years of Frauen und Film
Magazine Presentation and Film Program
December 11, 2024
The magazine Frauen und Film was founded in 1974 as the new women's movement was accompanied by changing relationships to film practice, film criticism, and film politics and views of the mass media became more critical. "Sexism is most clearly and provably shown in the results: women's absence in the profession," wrote Helke Sander, the magazine's founder, in the first issue. Yet not only does the absence of women* – let's decisively say FLINTA* – continue to have consequences today for the production of moving images, but also "for society's consciousness of their reality."
In its 50th anniversary year, the current issue of Frauen und Film focuses on archiving as well as the practices of collecting, cataloguing, and curating. The absence of women* and non-normative sexually or gendered people can be read in film heritage too. The (re-)discovery of film labor by women* in film history poses both practical questions (regarding the ability to find film prints and their condition) as well as ethical considerations: Who – if anyone at all – deals with the restoration and preservation of works by women* if "masterpieces" by male directors are mainly in focus. This is especially the case for the uncertain situation of the film heritage of film cultures from the Global South, which is another invitation to think differently about writing film history and its materialization in archives and cinema and festival programs.
The articles in Frauen und Film: Archive open up queer, feminist perspectives on topics including artistic research and self-archiving, writing film history, curatorial practices, colonial cinema, amateur film, Black Feminist Futurity, digital methods, and video art. On this evening, we do not only want to present the anniversary issue, but above all celebrate all the filmmakers to whom the articles are devoted and their works. (Dagmar Brunow, Katharina Müller / Translation: Ted Fendt)
With Anja Czioska, Dagmar Brunow, Katharina Müller, Ulrike Ottinger, Ashley Hans Scheirl, and Ursula Pürrer in attendance
The magazine Frauen und Film was founded in 1974 as the new women's movement was accompanied by changing relationships to film practice, film criticism, and film politics and views of the mass media became more critical. "Sexism is most clearly and provably shown in the results: women's absence in the profession," wrote Helke Sander, the magazine's founder, in the first issue. Yet not only does the absence of women* – let's decisively say FLINTA* – continue to have consequences today for the production of moving images, but also "for society's consciousness of their reality."
In its 50th anniversary year, the current issue of Frauen und Film focuses on archiving as well as the practices of collecting, cataloguing, and curating. The absence of women* and non-normative sexually or gendered people can be read in film heritage too. The (re-)discovery of film labor by women* in film history poses both practical questions (regarding the ability to find film prints and their condition) as well as ethical considerations: Who – if anyone at all – deals with the restoration and preservation of works by women* if "masterpieces" by male directors are mainly in focus. This is especially the case for the uncertain situation of the film heritage of film cultures from the Global South, which is another invitation to think differently about writing film history and its materialization in archives and cinema and festival programs.
The articles in Frauen und Film: Archive open up queer, feminist perspectives on topics including artistic research and self-archiving, writing film history, curatorial practices, colonial cinema, amateur film, Black Feminist Futurity, digital methods, and video art. On this evening, we do not only want to present the anniversary issue, but above all celebrate all the filmmakers to whom the articles are devoted and their works. (Dagmar Brunow, Katharina Müller / Translation: Ted Fendt)
With Anja Czioska, Dagmar Brunow, Katharina Müller, Ulrike Ottinger, Ashley Hans Scheirl, and Ursula Pürrer in attendance
For each series, films are listed in screening order.
