Saturday 16th November, 2019 13:30 + 16:00
Stoke Newington Library Gallery, 182 Stoke Newington Church Street, Entrance on Edward’s Lane, London, N16 0JL.
£6 per screening, £10 combined ticket for both screenings.
Accessibility: complimentary ticket for assistant.
Club des Femmes celebrates 40 years of Circles and 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 and COW /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.
We look forward to welcoming some of the filmmakers as well as former Circles and Cinenova workers to the event.
1980s
Jeanette Iljon, Focii, UK, 1974, 9mins
Jacqui Duckworth, An Invitation to Marilyn C, UK, 1983, 12mins
Caroline Sheldon, 17 Rooms (Or What Do Lesbians Do in Bed?), UK, 1985, 10mins
Ruth Novaczek, Tea Leaf, 1986, UK, 10mins
Bev Zalcock & Sara Chambers, East End Underground Moment, UK, 1985/95, 4mins 30sec
1990s
Tanya Syed, Chameleon, UK, 1990, 4mins
Pratibha Parma, Bhangra Jig, UK, 1990, 4mins
Sarah Turner, one and the other time, UK, 1990, 5mins
Sandra Lahire, Eerie, UK, 1992, 1min
Annette Kennerley, Sex Lies Religion, UK, 1993, 6mins
Sarah Pucill, Milk and Glass, UK, 1993, 10mins
Tina Keane, Deviant Beauty, UK, 1996, 12mins
Jamika Ajalon, Memory Tracks, UK-USA, 1997, 10mins
Programmed by Selina Robertson and Bev Zalcock, Club des Femmes
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.