Films by Women/Chicago '74

September 23–27

In September 1974, at the height of the feminist movement, the Film Center hosted Films By Women/Chicago ‘74, a series of screenings, workshops, and discussions, drawing 10,000 patrons to more than 70 short and feature films by women filmmakers. Organized by an all-woman collective with support from the Chicago Tribune, the festival offered a global survey of cinema from across its 60-year history. From mainstream Hollywood to activist documentary, arthouse to animation, it was the most diverse and expansive American survey of women’s cinema to date. It was also a watershed moment in Chicago cinema culture: according to committee member B. Ruby Rich, “women, for years after, would come up to me in the street to credit [us]—for jumpstarting their careers, ending their marriages, shaping their friendship.” 

This fall, the Gene Siskel Film Center and Northwestern University’s Block Cinema will celebrate the 50-year anniversary of Films by Women/Chicago ‘74. Screenings held across the two venues will revisit some of the festival’s most original and daring films and filmmakers while reflecting on the event’s enduring legacies. Whether playful or revolutionary, cerebral or erotic, fantastical or gritty, the range of filmmaking on display reflects kaleidoscopic possibilities coming into view during the thrilling decade that led up to the 1974 festival. Featuring Chicago debuts of several recent restorations, this program also foregrounds the vital ongoing work of preserving and uplifting women’s film history, suggesting that the work begun by the intrepid organizers of Films By Women/Chicago ‘74 remains still unfinished today. (Michael Metzger, Pick-Laudati Academic Curator for Cinema and Media Arts)

Click here to view the original Films by Women/Chicago '74 program book.

Northwestern University’s Block Cinema presents a complimentary series running September through November, exploring multiple facets of the 1974 festival and celebrating efforts of feminist film scholars, archivists, distributors, and curators past and present. The short films, documentaries, animation, and recently restored landmarks in the Block's programs provide a reflection of women’s cinema as varied and far-reaching as the one advanced by the original festival itself. Learn more at blockmuseum.northwestem.edu/cinema