New Directions for Feminist Film History

This seminar takes a transnational approach to
exploring the history of cinema, video,
documentary, and experimental film by examining
the contributions of women, queer, and trans*
filmmakers, directors, actors, and film
collectives in a global context; and by charting
key interventions in contemporary theories of
gender and sexuality, feminist-film theory, and
critical philosophy. Using CalArts's own history
of feminist collaboration-the film and
installation, "Womanhouse"-as a starting point,
the course covers debates in feminist movements,
paying attention to the relationship between
feminism, diaspora, and nationalism; and arguments
about the race, color, class, and sexual
dimensions of gender in the building of feminist
analysis and community. Through the lens offered
by readings in postcolonial studies and critical
race studies, poetry and translation, Native and
queer theory, political theory, psychoanalysis,
poststructuralism, and affect and emotion studies;
and by studying such themes as authorship, form
and aesthetics, spectatorship and audiences, media
industries, media production, and local, national,
and world cinemas, members of the course will
interpret the work of renowned and unsung women
and feminist cinema workers.

This course also investigates a range of
interrelated questions around the social,
cultural, economic, and industrial factors that
have shaped the films and workers under
discussion, to include Anna May Wong, Dorothy
Arzner, Martha Rosler, Susan Stryker, Julie Dash,
Zeinabu irene Davis, Shirley Clarke, Elaine May,
Sara Gómez, Pratibha Parmar, Penelope
Spheeris, Cecilia Mangini, Cheryl Dunye, Tracey
Moffatt, Agnès Varda, Sally Potter, Mira Nair,
Trinh T. Minh-ha, Chick Strand, Chantal Akerman,
Kira Muratova, Barbara Hammer, Jill Godmilow, Anne
Charlotte Robertson, Helke Misselwitz, Shanta
Apte, Jackie Raynal, Carole Roussopoulos and
Delphine Seyrig, Margaret Tait, Shirin Neshat,
Sarah Polley, Deborah Stratman; French, Italian,
British, Korean, Greek, and Latin American
feminist-film collectives; and contemporary
practitioners Madeline Hunt-Erlich, Maryam
Tafakory, Sasha Wortzel, and Tourmaline. How does
highlighting the experiences of such directors and
participants in the film world cause us to rewrite
dominant film histories? Creative, collaborative,
and interdisciplinary responses to assignments
encouraged. Assignments will include independent
presentations; keeping a weekly screening-response
journal, to be submitted in intervals; and turning
in one final creative project or academic paper.