The documentary Abort (1972) by Vibeke Løkkeberg played a role in abortion law reform in Norway. L’Aggetivo Donna (1972) by the Italian Colletivo Feminista di Cinema was one of the very first films to address the newly emerging women’s movement of the time, which was battling for more visibility. Vibeke Pedersen’s film Femø is about the first women’s camp on Femø. The London Women’s Film Group, in the film Betteshanger, Kent 1972 (1972), turned their attention to the traditional miners’ strike and the political role of women as miner’s wives. The documentary film Cerisay, elles ont osé, shot by one of the first female cinematographers in film history, Nurith Aviv, is also dedicated to the struggle of working people. Sandra Hochman likewise focused on politics: in Year of the Woman, she follows Shirley Chisholm, the very first African-American female presidential candidate. These films and their women directors came together for the first time at the first Women’s Film Festival in West Berlin in 1973. Around 15 women directors from around the world showed almost 60 films to 220 women (and 10 men) at the Arsenal Cinema over the course of four days. This festival, a milestone in film history, was made possible by Helke Sander and Claudia von Alemann, who also screened their own films, with the support of the Frankfurter Gemeinschaftswerk der Evangelischen Publizistik (EPD), the media company of the Protestant Church in Germany. Documentaries about guests, group seminars and debates, plus interviews with von Alemann and Sander, Annabella Miscuglio, Claire Johnstone, Ariel Dougherty and many others shed light on this historic event, which, thanks to the recent discovery of Løkkeberg’s film and sound material, is finally enjoying the visibility it deserves.

The film is part of the event First International Women’s Film Festival 1973.

In cooperation with Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst e. V.