monica freeman, ca 1977 • Photo: john wise
feminist elsewheres
April 19-20, 2025
Two-day film and conversation program, Maysles Documentary Center
Queer-feminist film work is collective, transnational, and complicated. The networks that emerge from it are expansive, ephemeral, and in need of care. With this program feminist elsewheres is looking for connections between historical and contemporary feminist film, tracing the stories, times, and border-crossing lineages of its existence.
From the Black feminist film scene in the US and film gatherings in Europe in the 1970s to poetic negotiations of borders and memories between Nigeria, Thailand, and Germany, this program is an unfinished search for the significance of queer-feminist film.
The event opens with a selection of films based on the feminist elsewheres research on the 1973 First International Women’s Film Seminar, Berlin. Other programs will include the complete works of Monica Freeman, contemporary films by Arisa Purkpong & Jana Buch as well as the German Television production The Snake in My Bed by LA Rebellion director Omah Diegu.
SATURDAY 04/19/2025
5pm – What Could Have Been
All Women Are Equal
Marguerite Paris, US 1972, 15’
I Am Somebody
Madeline Anderson, US 1970, 28’
Introduction by feminist elsewheres
Opening Reception
8pm – Celebrating Monica Freeman and Friends
Just Briefly
Louise Fleming, US 1975, 19’
Valerie: A Woman, An Artist, A Philosophy of Life
Monica Freeman, US 1975, 15’
A Sense of Pride: Hamilton Heights
Monica Freeman, US 1977, 15’
The Children’s Art Carnival: Learning Through the Arts
Monica Freeman, US 1978, 17’
Hair Piece: A Film for Nappy Headed People
Ayoka Chenzira, US 1984, 10’
Panel conversation with Monica Freeman, Christine Choy, Louise Fleming, and Jennifer Lawson
Moderation by Hayley O’Malley
SUNDAY 04/20/2025
5pm – Fragments of Memory
Excerpts from work in progress
Arisa Purkpong, NO 2025, 3’
Notes of Stone
Jana Buch & Arisa Purkpong, DE 2020, 9’
Untitled
Arisa Purkpong, DE 2022, 49’
Arisa Purkpong in conversation with feminist elsewheres
8pm – Poetry of Crossing
The Snake in My Bed
Omah Diegu, DE 1995, 86’
Introduction by Allyson Nadia Field
feminist elsewheres began as a festival in 2023 in response to two events that took place in Berlin: the 1973 First International Women’s Film Seminar and its 1997 revisitation ...the point is to change it. Films, Festivals, Feminism. It now operates as a collective at the intersection of archival research, film programming, and artistic experimentation.
No film stands alone.
No history is stable.
feminist elsewheres is many.
Curated by the feminist elsewheres collective. Follow their work and sign up for their newsletter.
Program flyer:
With generous support from
