A Historic Festival Revisited offers a Tribute to Women Filmmakers and their Legacies

This fall, The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University and the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago proudly announce a joint celebration of the 50th anniversary of the pioneering Films by Women/Chicago ’74 festival.

From September 23 to November, both venues will host a series of screenings, discussions, and events that pay homage to the groundbreaking festival that championed women filmmakers and marked a watershed moment in the history of cinema.

Films by Women/Chicago ’74 originally took place at the Gene Siskel Film Center in September 1974 at the height of the feminist movement, featuring over 70 short and feature films by women from around the world. Organized by an all-woman collective, including several Northwestern University students and faculty members, with support from the Chicago Tribune, the festival presented a diverse array of cinematic works, ranging from mainstream Hollywood productions to activist documentaries, arthouse films, and animations. It was the most comprehensive survey of women’s cinema in the United States to date and left an indelible mark on Chicago’s cultural landscape.

B. Ruby Rich, a committee member of the original festival, reflects, “For years after, women would come up to me in the street to credit [us]—for jumpstarting their careers, ending their marriages, shaping their friendships.”

“When a small group of Chicago women began researching films directed by women to launch a festival in 1974, little did we know we would turn up 70 amazing works,” said Patricia Erens, professor, adjunct at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, original festival organizer, and co-organizer of the retrospective. “It is not that women had not contributed to film history, it was just that their works were not valued and preserved. There is still a long way to go. Women directors in Hollywood still represent just a fraction of the films directed by men.”

“The  Films by Women/Chicago ’74 festival was a pivotal moment in Chicago’s film culture, significantly impacting the landscape of film-going and film studies across the city.”

– Michael Metzger, Pick-Laudati Academic Curator for Cinema and Media Arts

A Collaborative Celebration Across Two Venues

The Gene Siskel Film Center will kick off the anniversary celebration with a week-long series from September 23 to 27, featuring screenings that revisit some of the most original and daring films and filmmakers showcased in 1974. This series will highlight recent restorations and reflect the wide-ranging styles and narratives that characterized women’s cinema during that era. From playful and revolutionary to cerebral and gritty, the program underscores the diverse voices that contributed to this landmark event.

Highlights of the Gene Siskel Film Center program include:

• LIONS LOVE (…AND LIES) (1969, Agnès Varda): A complex film that stars Janet Susan Mary Hoffmann (Viva), Shirley Clarke, and James Rado and Gerome Ragni (authors of Hair), and explores a woman director’s journey in Hollywood. The film challenges traditional filmmaking methods and offers a unique perspective on the industry.
  Screening: Monday, September 23, 6:00 p.m.

• SAMBIZANGA (1972, Sarah Maldoror): Set during the early days of the Angolan War of Independence, this film tells the story of Maria’s search for her husband, arrested by colonial authorities. Known for its focus on female resilience and solidarity, Sambizanga is a landmark in African and feminist cinema.
  Screening: Monday, September 23, 8:30 p.m. (Preceded by Joyce Weiland’s RAT LIFE AND DIET IN NORTH AMERICA)
• DREAM LIFE (1972, Mireille Dansereau): This film explores the friendship between two women as they navigate societal expectations and seek liberation. Known for its role-reversal premise, Dream Life examines women’s freedom and relationships in a unique and introspective way.
  Screening: Tuesday, September 24, 6:15 p.m.
• DAUGHTER RITE (1978, Michelle Citron): A seminal work in feminist cinema, this film uses a mix of home movies, verité-style scenes, and a diaristic voiceover to explore the complexities of mother-daughter relationships.
  Screening: Thursday, September 26, 6:00 p.m. (Followed by a conversation between Michelle Citron and scholar B. Ruby Rich)
  Presented as part of Conversations at the Edge, an ongoing series produced in partnership with SAIC’s department of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation, and Video Data Bank.
• THE GIRLS (1968, Mai Zetterling): Featuring actresses from Bergman’s films, this film intertwines the lives of three actresses with their roles in a production of Lysistrata. A commentary on gender and artistic liberation, The Girls is a response to gendered critiques of Zetterling’s work.
  Screening: Thursday, September 26, 8:30 p.m.
• THE COOL WORLD (1963, Shirley Clarke): This film portrays the life of Harlem youth with a realistic and compassionate lens, set to the jazz sounds of Dizzy Gillespie and Mal Waldron. It offers a raw look at racial and economic inequalities through a blend of neorealism and cinéma vérité.
  Screening: Friday, September 27, 6:15 p.m.

Block Cinema at Northwestern University’s Block Museum of Art will continue the celebration with a complimentary series running from September through November. This series will explore multiple facets of the original festival, celebrating the efforts of feminist film scholars, archivists, distributors, and curators who have worked tirelessly to ensure the preservation and visibility of women’s contributions to cinema.

Highlights of the Block Cinema program include:

• Revisiting Films by Women/Chicago ’74 with Patricia Erens and B. Ruby Rich: An evening of short films and discussion with original festival organizers B. Ruby Rich and Patricia Erens, featuring a selection of short films by women filmmakers of the 1970s. The program explores themes of sexuality, intimacy, self-image, family, and creativity that were central to the original festival and remain relevant today.
  Screening: Wednesday, September 25, 6:30 p.m.
• Dorothy Arzner Double Feature: DANCE, GIRL, DANCE (1940) and TAKE-OFF (1972): This double feature celebrates Dorothy Arzner, the only female studio filmmaker in Hollywood during the 1930s and 40s, with a screening of her celebrated film Dance, Girl, Dance, preceded by Gunvor Nelson’s experimental short Take-Off.
  Screening: Saturday, September 28, 3:00 p.m.
• Dorothy Arzner Double Feature: CRAIG’S WIFE (1936) and WHAT I WANT (1973): Featuring Arzner’s Craig’s Wife, a film about a woman’s pursuit of autonomy and control, paired with Sharon Hennessy’s short What I Want, which explores themes of female empowerment and independence.
  Screening: Saturday, September 28, 12:30 p.m.
• ATTICA (1974) and I AM SOMEBODY (1970): A powerful double feature of political documentaries by women filmmakers, highlighting struggles for labor rights and prison reform. The program includes Madeline Anderson’s I Am Somebody, depicting the fight for unionization by Black female hospital workers, and Cinda Firestone’s Attica, documenting the infamous prison rebellion in New York.
  Screening: Friday, October 4, 7:00 p.m.
• Activist Lens: Bev Grant & Newsreel Films: This screening presents two films that showcase the work of lens-based artist and activist Bev Grant. As an early member of the Newsreel Collective, Grant contributed to radical documentary films that chronicled social movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The program includes Janie’s Janie (1971), a personal documentary about a working-class woman’s journey to self-realization, and El Pueblo Se Levanta (1971), capturing the activism of the Young Lords in East Harlem. Bev Grant will be in attendance for a post-screening discussion.
  Screening: Thursday, October 10, 7:00 p.m.
• WILL (1981): The Chicago premiere of a new 4k restoration of Jessie Maple’s WILL (1981), a powerful narrative about addiction, redemption, and community in Harlem that was also the first feature film directed by an African-American woman filmmaker. Screening: Thursday, October 17, 7:00 p.m.

Continuing the Legacy and Looking Forward

This anniversary event not only honors the original festival’s achievements but also reflects on the ongoing work necessary to promote, preserve, and uplift women’s voices in cinema. 

“The 1974 festival was groundbreaking for the Film Center and Chicago, and also received national and international attention, kicking off a decades-long tradition of the Film Center being on the forefront of cinematic discovery,” said Gene Siskel Film Center Director of Programming Rebecca Fons. “Partnering with Block, and working with the women who led the charge fifty years ago, has been a rich and rewarding experience.” 

“The  Films by Women/Chicago ’74 festival was a pivotal moment in Chicago’s film culture, significantly impacting the landscape of film-going and film studies across the city. The festival was instrumental in reviving the history of women in film from the very beginnings of cinema, and it continues to inspire us to explore and amplify those voices that have yet to be fully recognized,” notes Michael Metzger, Pick-Laudati Academic Curator for Cinema and Media Arts.  “This shared retrospective is not only about revisiting the past but also about envisioning our future, inspiring us to unearth films that have been overlooked and bringing them into the light.”

Visit the Block Museum of Art’s and the Gene Siskel Film Center’s websites for more information about the 50th-anniversary celebration of Films by Women/Chicago ’74, including ticketing and program details.

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About the Block Museum of Art:
Free and open to all, The Block is Northwestern University’s art museum. The Block Museum is an engine that drives questioning, experimentation and collaboration across fields of study, with visual arts at the center. The Block does this by activating art’s power as a form of insight, research and knowledge creation that makes human experience visible and material. Fueled by diverse perspectives and ways of knowing, The Block creates shared encounters with art and with one another to deepen understandings of the world and our place within it. 

About the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago:
The Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago presents a curated collection of eclectic international, independent and classic cinema with festivals and year-round programming while striving to provide a welcoming space reflective of Chicago’s diverse community. As a public program of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Film Center fosters dialogue that sets films in historical and cultural context through panels, lectures and filmmaker conversations.