BAMcinématek has lined up its next feminist film series. The Brooklyn venue is teaming up with Kino Lorber and the Library of Congress for “Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers,” which kicks off Friday, July 20 and runs through July 26. Featuring women-directed films made from 1910-1929 — including projects from Alice Guy Blaché, Lois Weber, Nell Shipman, Grace Cunard, Marion E. Wong, and Zora Neale Hurston — “Pioneers” will honor the women who were “instrumental in shaping the very language of cinema as we know it.”
“Bringing together dozens of essential new restorations, this series spotlights the daring, innovative, and trailblazing work of the first female filmmakers and restores their centrality to the creation of cinema itself,” BAMcinématek emphasizes.
“Pioneers” offerings include Shipman’s Arctic survival story “Back to God’s Country,” Wong’s black-and-white silent film “Curse of Quon Gwon: When the Far East Mingles with the West,” footage from Hurston’s anthropological fieldwork, and programs of Weber and Guy Blaché films.
The “Pioneers” series will also be available on Blu-ray and DVD on November 13, marking history’s “largest commercially-released video collection of films by women directors.” The collection is exec produced by actress-filmmaker Illeana Douglas and curated by author and academic Shelley Stamp.
Go to BAMcinématek’s website to find out more about the series or to purchase tickets. Check out “Pioneers'” trailer and poster below.
