The Long Road to the Director’s Chair
The first International Women’s Film Festival in Germany took place in 1973. Back then, Helke Sander and Claudia von Alemann succeeded in putting together a four-day film and discussion programme for a women’s film movement that was still in the process of being formed. For the first time, the seminar brought together filmmakers from different countries who knew nothing about each other. The documentary film footage of the meeting, which was thought to have been lost, is now available for the first time. It shows conversations with filmmakers on topics such as double exploitation, self-determined sexuality, the ‘pill’ and violence. A film about continuities and changes, about our cinematic-feminist heritage – a film about a new beginning.

Short Film Programme: Lines of Flight
This programme of short films complements the screening of The Long Road to the Director’s Chair by Vibeke Løkkeberg and provides an insight into the work of the female directors featured at the First Women’s Film Festival in West Berlin in 1973.

I am grateful to the following people and institutions for their generous support in making it possible to screen these historic films: Elisa Jochum of the Deutsche Kinemathek for her commitment to restoring the works of pioneering female directors; Anna Maria Licciardello of the Cineteca Nazionale in Rome, who has dedicated her research and programming to reappraising Miscuglio’s films; Stefanie Schulte-Strathaus of Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst, and many more. Their crucial contributions to preserving film heritage are furthering the cause of writing anti-patriarchal film history.

Followed by a discussion with Claudia von Alemann, Stefanie Schulte-Strathaus, Christiane Schaefer-Winkelmann and others.

In cooperation with Arsenal on Location.
Arsenal on Location is funded by the Capital Cultural Fund.