Vassar Institute’s Signature Program Focuses on Preserving and Showing Women’s Work in Independent Film
Independent women filmmakers have played a major role in advocating for social justice in the United States over the past several decades, but more must be done to ensure their work is preserved and made readily available to the general public. That was a major theme of a three-day conference at the Vassar Institute for the Liberal Arts on February 26, 27, and 28.
More than two dozen filmmakers, film historians, social activists, members of local media organizations, and other advocates for the work of women filmmakers took part in the conference, titled “Women’s Work: Preserving Independent Film and Video Histories, Connecting Media Futures.” The event, one of a series of Signature Programs at the Vassar Institute for the Liberal Arts, was convened by Erica Stein, Associate Professor and Chair of Film at Vassar; Noelle Griffis, Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies and Assistant Division Chair, Communication and Media Arts, at Marymount Manhattan College; Fabio Andrade, Assistant Professor of Film at Vassar; and John Hulsey, Assistant Professor of Art at Vassar.
Some of the panelists spoke about their own journeys as independent filmmakers, while others talked about the work they are doing to discover and preserve films that have been languishing in warehouses and basements across the country.
Photo by Karl Rabe
On the evening of February 26, participants gathered in the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center to view an exhibition titled Women’s Work: Organizing New York Independent Film and Video. This exhibition showcased and celebrated the organizing labor that enabled groundbreaking film, video, and community media collectives like Third World Newsreel, Paper Tiger Television, and Women Make Movies to pursue new forms of self-expression and advocate for political change from the 1960s–1990s. In addition to extended clips from the films, TV broadcasts, and videos themselves, the exhibition took guests behind the scenes of independent media making through programming notes, repair manuals, student and community planning documents, and other materials to tell the story of how media can be made and reach audiences outside the mainstream. The exhibit was funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Virginia Herrick Deknatel Fund, with additional support from Vassar’s Art Department and Film Department.
Photo by Karl Rabe
During a panel discussion on February 27 titled Filmmaking and the Women’s Movement, independent filmmaker Ariel Dougherty spoke about her advocacy of feminist causes in her films over the past five decades. Dougherty said the work she and others in the independent film movement had started in the 1960s and 1970s has particular significance in today’s political climate. “The three most significant words in the English language right now are ‘We the People,’” Dougherty said. “We need to fight to make our films seen.”
Photo by Kelly Marsh
Another panelist, Sandra Schulberg, President of IndieCollect and Founder of the Independent Filmmaker Project, said many films that promote social justice causes have been lost or forgotten. Schulberg said she had recently discovered a cache of such films in a warehouse in Bridgeport, CT. She said she and others in her organization would be working to identify and restore many of these films over the next several months.
Later that day, women who took part in a panel discussion titled Programming and Curating explored ways those who promote and exhibit such films are doing their work. One panelist, filmmaker and programmer Monica Freeman, helped to organize the first Sojourner Truth Festival of the Arts in 1976, along with other Black feminist artists. Many of those who spoke at the conference agreed that more such festivals spotlighting the work of feminist filmmakers ought to be organized.
Filmmaker, director, and producer Duana Butler ’91 said that while promoting and preserving the work of feminist artists is important, it is just as important to support those artists when they are in need of health care or funding for their projects.
On the morning of February 28, Alexandra Juhasz, Professor of Film at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York (CUNY), moderated a discussion on what steps should be taken to continue to support the work of feminist filmmakers and others in the business. Alluding to recent political events—the actions taken by ICE agents on the streets of American cities, the genocide taking place in Gaza, and the outbreak of war in Iran—all of those attending said it was imperative that filmmakers of today follow in the footsteps of those who went before them and expose these injustices. This will require ongoing efforts to support feminist independent filmmakers by preserving and exhibiting their work, those in attendance agreed.
Following the conference, Professor Griffis said she and the other organizers of the event had been pleased with the passion and energy they had witnessed. “We hoped that a gathering would not only foster new connections but reveal some long-forgotten ones, and it was a huge success in this regard,” Griffis said. “The symposium also revived old strategies and sparked new ideas for creating and maintaining alternative spaces for media making, along with plans to reactivate forgotten work and to make women’s independent media history more visible in our classrooms and cultural spaces.
Photo by Kelly Marsh
“For me, the most successful and exciting part of the symposium was the intergenerational connections that were made and strengthened over three days,” she continued. “Undergraduate and graduate students from across the country and young artists and activists not only learned from the older generations but also brainstormed future paths together. We’ve already shared our participant contacts so that the conversation can continue. Some of the younger participants have also volunteered to create listservs and newsletters. I know these histories and conversations will continue in my classes at Marymount Manhattan College, and I know they will at Vassar as well.”
Photo by Kelly Marsh
Professor Stein said the symposium also served as a launching pad for an oral history project she and Griffis are working on. “By collecting oral histories—both the group ones we recorded through the symposium panels and the individual ones we’ll work on later this year—we can continue to facilitate visibility and recognition for the crucial organizing labor women have contributed to independent film, video, and media collectives,” Stein said. “These histories will also be a key resource for a new generation of media makers and groups working today, including in the Hudson Valley.”
She said she was thrilled with how members of the audience and the panelists had engaged with each other throughout the event. “We had a wonderful audience that contained many of the peers and collaborators of our panelists, so we were able to have an especially robust, informed, and expansive conversation with contributions from all corners of the room.”