WATCH TRAILER

Feminist: Stories From Women’s Liberation

A film by Jennifer Hall Lee

US | 2013 | 64 minutes | Color | DVD | Order No. 141137

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SYNOPSIS

Structured as a personal journey of rediscovery by filmmaker Jennifer Lee, this documentary brings the momentous first decade of secondwave feminism vividly to life. Its trajectory starts with the earliest stirrings in 1963 and ends with the movement’s full blossoming in 1970—from the Presidential Commission’s report on widespread discrimination against women and publication of Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique up through radical feminists’ takeover of the Statue of Liberty and Friedan’s calls for a women’s strike for equality. A wealth of period footage captures landmark events and the pivotal roles of the National Organization for Women (NOW), the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Redstockings, and other organizations. Thirty-five diverse interviewees, including rank-and-file activists along with well-known feminists Betty Friedan, Frances M. Beale, Gloria Steinem, Robin Morgan, Ti-Grace Atkinson, and others, share memories of the period as well as issues and challenges that still resonate today. A great introduction to Women’s Studies and critical viewing for historians and academics interested in feminism, activism and the Women’s Movement.

PRESS

“Lee's film makes a huge leap in uncovering our buried history as women, a gift to girls and women and boys and men alike."

Melanie Klein, Professor Sociology and Women’s Studies, Santa Monica College

"***1/2 Highly recommended...Lee shows how important it is to keep feminist stories a lively part of our national discourse."

Video Librarian

"FEMINIST STORIES is poignant, funny, very powerful, and unapologetic… The film is a must-see."

The Huffington Post

"… terrifically entertaining as well as informative..."

Paula Kaplan Psychology Today

"…Lee does an excellent job of covering disagreements within the movement."

Holly Derr Ms. Magazine

"...a documentary I wish were mandatory viewing in schools …"

Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly

“Remembering and studying the women who broke the barriers before us is not just the right thing to do; we ignore their hard-won lessons at our own peril. For American women, our careless amnesia is plain poison and Lee's film is a healthy portion of the antidote."

The Huffington Post

"Feminist: Stories from Women’s Liberation offers the broadest narrative of the modern feminist movement, covering the period from World War II to 1970. Speaking directly to viewers, director Jennifer Hall Lee tries to rehabilitate the concept of feminism by giving it a history."

Anne M. Valk, Films for the Feminist Classroom

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

  • Los Angeles Women’s Int’l Film Festival, Best of Fest for Documentary

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Jennifer Hall Lee

Jennifer Hall Lee is a filmmaker, writer and public speaker from Atlanta, Georgia and Staten Island, New York.

Jennifer began her film career working as a visual effects editor and producer at many companies including Lucasfilm's Industrial, Light & Magic, Warner Bros. Studios, Sony Imageworks and Technicolor. Her credits include FORREST GUMP, HOOK, GHOST, THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, BACK TO THE FUTURE 2, THE RING, ENCHANTED and BEOWULF.

Lee's documentary film on the women's liberation movement in the United States, "Feminist: Stories from Women's Liberation" was the gateway to her current work with women in Pakistan. (1/24)

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