lesbian relationships • lesbian/gay history • homophobia • nontraditional families • coming out
AUSTRALIA AND THE PACIFIC
Apartments (Australia 1977)
Fiction, film, 16 mm, 10 min., b/w, in English
Made by Megan McMurchy
Distributor: Sydney Filmmakers Cooperative (Australia)
Apartments explores a romantic obsession. Two women living in the same apartment are drawn to each other, thanks to the power of a shared erotic fantasy that develops between them. One woman's relationship with her lover disintegrates as the focus of her sexual desires shifts toward her housemate.
Changing (Australia 1977)
Video, 3/4 in. U-matic cassette, 25 min., b/w, in English
Made by Sandy Edwards
Distributor: Sydney Filmmakers Cooperative (Australia)
A study of the changing attitudes of women toward male-female relationships, this tape is the result of changes in the filmmaker's own attitudes and her attempts to come to terms with romantic notions she has been conditioned by from an early age. It includes interviews with three women who have reached a decision to seek alternatives to traditional types of relationships.
Relating (Australia 1980)
Video, 3/4 in., 10 min., in English
Made by Leonie Seebohm
Distributor: Sydney Filmmakers Cooperative (Australia)
This multilayered video challenges the stereotyped views of lesbianism and the expectations of audiences regarding reality on the television screen. Visually there is a warm, loving lesbian relationship while the sound track presents the attempt of a woman to tell her mother that she is not interested in the conventional goals of marriage and children, but finds fulfillment with women.
Witches and Faggots, Dykes and Poofters (Australia 1980)
Film, 16 mm, 45 min., color, in English
Made by "One in Seven" Collective
Producer: Digby Duncan
Distributor: Sydney Filmmakers Cooperative (Australia)
This film documents the social and individual oppression of lesbians and gay men in both historical and present-day contexts. In an attempt to understand why such oppression is practiced, it asks who benefits from it and in what ways. It focuses on gay activities in Sydney, particularly the June 1978 peaceful parade of gay people and their supporters which was savagely and unwarrantedly attacked by the police. The personal experiences of gays, as revealed through interviews, highlights the many areas and ways in which homosexuals suffer discrimination: within the family, in the workforce, in respect to child custody and by the attitudes of the medical profession.
Showtime (Australia 1978)
Fiction, film, 16 mm, 17 min., color, in English
Made by Jan Chapman
Distributor: Sydney Filmmakers Cooperative Ltd. (Australia)
A young woman is on her first teaching appointment in the country. The school's principal is a woman whose affection for the children and the countryside has led her to accept her solitary life in the town, where she mixes with the locals only when necessary. A relationship develops between the two. The eyes of the town are quick to notice the "dangerous" implications for their children. A dramatized film that raises the particular difficulties facing homosexuals in both country towns and within the educational system.
EUROPE
Eva and Maria (Sweden)
Film, 16 mm; video, VHS, Beta, 28 min., color, in Swedish with English subtitles
Made by Tjejfilm
Distributor: Biofem, Nordiska Kvinnofilmdistributionskollektivet (Sweden)
The film talks of two young women in love, who receive positive reactions from their parents, friends and schoolmates. Through its positive portrayal of love between two women, it strengthens those who identify with them.
Hors d'Oeuvre in Light (Denmark)
Multimedia performance, 60 min., adaptable to any language
Made by Eyeland
Distributor: Eyeland (Denmark)
A multimedia performance using slides, film and scenic "living" tableaus to visualize the "borderless" ways of women's love, passion, erotica on the edge of patriarchal patterns and feminist spirituality. The title fits as the performance stops where the story - every woman's own story - starts. With a light touch the show revolves around the theme of contact between women.
Weggehen um Anzukommen (West Germany)
(Depart to Arrive)
Film, 89 min., color, in German
Made by Alexandra von Grote
Producer: Frauen-Film-Produktions with Alexandra von Grote
Distributor: Transocean International Film und Ferseh Gesellschaft (West Germany)
Anna and Regina have been living together for a year. Each one of them started out with very different expectations of each other and the relationship. After reaching a point where neither one of them is able to satisfy the other's needs, the two women decide to separate. The actual parting comes as a painful shock when Regina falls in love with another woman. Anna, meanwhile, finally succeeds in regaining her strength and in opening up a new dialogue with herself and her past.
NORTH AMERICA
Susana (USA 1980)
Film, 16 mm, 25 min., b/w, in English
Made by Susana Blaustein
Distributor: Women Make Movies (USA)
This film is an autobiographical portrait of a young Argentine lesbian growing up in a homophobic environment in the United States. Using home movies and interviews, the film explores Susana's changing relationships with her family and lovers. The film illustrates the conflict between her love for women and her family's expectations and gives a complex and compassionate account of the tensions, frustrations and love in family and lesbian relationships.
Greta's Girls (USA 1978)
Film, 16 mm, 18 min., b/w, in English
Made by Greta Schiller and T. Seid
Distributor: Women Make Movies (USA)
This film presents a day in the life of two lesbians who are just beginning their relationship together. Uncertainties about themselves and one another and the realities of daily existence in a harsh environment counterpoint the deep warmth and affection they feel for each other.
Labor More Than Once (1983)
Video, VHS, Beta, 3/4 in., 52 min., color, in English
Made by Liz Mersky
Distributor: Women Make Movies (USA)
Labor More Than Once follows a lesbian mother's struggle to regain parental rights to her son and the judicial system's denial of those rights solely on the basis of her sexual preference. When the documentary begins, Marianne MacQueen has not seen her son for two years. While breaking stereotypes about motherhood, lesbianism and parenting, this documentary also raises important issues for discussion - the impact of custody battles on children of divorce, the importance of honest communication with children about sexual orientation and the effects of institutionalized homophobia on family and society.
In the Best Interests of the Children (USA 1979)
Film, 53 min., color, in English
Made by Iris Feminist Collective, Inc.
Distributor: Iris Feminist Collective (USA)
The family lives of eight lesbian mothers and their children are profiled in this unique documentary. After ten months of research and interviews with more than sixty lesbian mothers and their children, these families were chosen to present the subject of child custody in lesbian families. They represent a variety of racial and class backgrounds and a diversity of experiences as members of a largely hidden minority group. An attorney and a clinical social worker, both experienced in custody cases, offer their professional opinions on the legal, moral, and ultimately human factors involved in the sensitive issue of child custody by nontraditional parents. The interviews with the children are moving in their candor and wisdom as they discuss personal experiences with courtrooms and custody, having mothers who are "different" and their own emerging sexual identities.
Tread Softly (USA)
Film, 16 mm; video, 3/4 in., 27 min., color, in English
Producer: Di Drew
Director: Di Drew
Distributor: Women Make Movies (USA)
This film is a portrait of the relationship between an older and a younger woman. As their relationship progresses, the difference in their ages and their different identities as lesbian women cause difficulties that they struggle to surmount.
After the Game (USA 1979)
Fiction, film, 16 mm, 19 min., color, in English
Made by Donna Gray
Distributor: Iris Feminist Collective (USA)
Nicole and Diana, both in their early twenties, are close friends. They have reached a crucial moment in their lives while discussing their problems concerning a boyfriend who has been important to both of them at different times. The film portrays the beginnings of a relationship between two women whose relationship subtly changes and their sexual orientation with it, as well.
Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community (USA 1984)
Film, 16 mm, 87 min., color, in English
Made by Greta Schiller
Producers: Robert Rosemberg, John Scagliotti, Greta Schiller
Distributor: Greta Schiller or Jane Balfour Films (USA)
Based on extensive archival and historical research, Before Stonewall documents the history of gay subculture in the United States in the years prior to the gay liberation movement. Made by gay people themselves, the film uses newsreel footage, home movies, interviews, home photographs and narration by noted gay/lesbian activists such as poets Audre Lorde and Allen Ginsburg to trace seventy years of scapegoating, sexual experimentation and gay rights organizing by and among people of all races and walks of life.
Featured at numerous film festivals in Europe and North America, the film has also been broadcast by U.S. public television and can be used to complement high school or university history and/or women's studies courses.
SEE ALSO
Other resources that address the themes of this chapter are listed below. The chapters where they may be found are given in boldface type.
See the entire chapter:
Images of Women