Caroline Sheldon  

A fixture in gay and lesbian film criticism and production from the seventies onward, British filmmaker Caroline Sheldon is perhaps most well-known for her iconic 1977 essay, "Lesbians and Film: Some Thoughts". The piece explores cinematic lesbian representation of the day and discusses the need for a new film language to disrupt patriarchal assumptions inherent in the male-dominated business.

Her film SEVENTEEN ROOMS (1985) - subtitled What Lesbians Do in Bed - courted controversy when Channel Four pulled it from its programming at the last minute because of objections to the title (despite the lack of any actual explicit content). Sheldon’s earlier films include INTRUSIONS (1977), WATCHING, LOOKING (1981), and REAL WOMAN (1984). (03/19)

Available Title(s):


Seventeen Rooms


A film by Caroline Sheldon, 1985, 9 min,

Britain’s Channel 4 refused to broadcast this piece because of its subtitle: WHAT DO LESBIANS DO IN BED? The film looks into seventeen bedrooms to challenge the titillating promise of that question with home movie footage and texts such as “Sleep," “Read," and even “Sometimes Kiss." A light and humorous examination of visual representations of…

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