These are the viewing links for the films cited in Helen de Witt’s Culture Club post “Watching Film History Through Women’s Documentary.” Where possible, we link to freely-available versions of the films uploaded online, although these are not always the best quality. Where these are not available, we provide links to rent or buy the films. Where the films cannot be viewed online, we offer links to trailers and interviews.
With thanks to Helen for all her research!
Dance and Trance in Bali (Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, Bali/USA, 1937-9/1950)
Divine Horsemen: Living Gods of Haiti (Maya Deren, Haiti/USA, 1947/1954). Divine Horsemen is also available on DVD via Kino Lorber (US).
Fieldwork (Zora Neale Hurston, 1928)
The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty (Esfir Shub USSR 1927)
Mary Field collection on BFIPlayer
Housing Problems (Arthur Elton/Edgar Anstey with Ruby Grierson, UK, 1935)
Way We Live (Jill Craigie, UK, 1946)
One Way or Another (Sara Gomez, Cuba, 1977)
Chircales [clip] (Marta Rodriguez/Jorge Silva, Columbia, 1972)
Reassemblage, like several of Trinh T. Minh-Ha’s films, is distributed by Women Make Movies (US) but not currently available to view online. There are many interviews with her available online, but we want to highlight this fantastic recent conversationwith Isaac Julien.
Integration Report 1 (Madeline Anderson, USA, 1960)
I Am Somebody (Madeline Anderson, USA, 1970) [rental]
Portrait of Jason (Shirley Clarke, USA, 1967) is available on DVD via Milestone Films (US).
SHIRLEY CLARKE PLAYING THE DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER IN AGNÈS VARDA’S LIONS LOVE (…AND LIES) (1969)
Harlan County, USA (Barbara Kopple, USA, 1976). Harlan County is also available on DVD via Criterion (US).
Kim Longinotto: gallery of trailers and interviews on Vimeo. Four of Longinotto’s films are available on DVD via Second Run (UK). Shooting the Mafia is available to buy or rent on YouTube.
No Home Movie (Chantal Akerman, Belgium, 2015) [buy or rent]. Four of Akerman’s documentaries are available as a DVD box set via Icarus (US).
The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda, France, 2000) is available to rent on Curzon Home Cinema (UK), and can be viewed on Kanopy with a US library card. Criterion (US) are releasing The Complete Films of Agnès Varda on BluRay in August 2020.