WOMEN IN HOLLYWOOD FROM THE SILENT ERA TO THE 21ST CENTURY

Women have written and made films since the invention of cinema itself in all the genres the art form offers. They have been inventors and creators as well as actors and viewers. Yet their work is usually (though unsurprisingly) misrepresented in the film canon. Five films by female directors are our starting point for an excursion into the many films made by female directors – the suspenseful “The Bigamist” (1953) by Ida Lupino, the most prominent female filmmaker working in the Hollywood studio system, Barbara Loden, creating a modern road movie in ”Wanda” (1970), Susan Seidelmans rebellious comedy ”Desperately Seeking Susan” (1985) as well as Jamie Babbits queer teen comedy ”But I'm a Cheerleader” (1999) have all stood out as examples of women's interventions into patriarchally structured industry, as did Kitty Greens “The Assistant,” a quiet and scary drama about #metoo. As this is a lecture series, it will feature a number of researchers and practicioners in this context. Together with our guests and in Q&A's after the film screenings at Gartenbaukino, we will talk about exclusion strategies that are firmly in place, about camera work and archive work as well as curative practices--and we celebrate women's filmmaking over the decades.