Glasgow Women’s Library’s ‘Collections on Camera’ Film Club – Feminist Film, Tea & A Warm Welcome Await

Glasgow Women’s Library’s Collections on Camera film club kicks off on 1st October with Cheryl Dunye’s The Watermelon Woman, an arch choice given its protagonist’s search for a woman in the archives. We spoke to GWL’s production coordinator Eilidh Alkilade and archivist Mae Moss about the series, which pairs feminist films with relevant materials from GWL’s extensive collections and will continue monthly through February.

What inspired this series?

Eilidh: We were thinking about how much it makes sense to have discussions about feminist films in a uniquely feminist space, and one which can speak directly to so many of the themes that come up in these films because we have all these collections – the archive, the museum, and our library. 

Then we came across the Film Hub Scotland funding. We started pulling together ideas, thinking: If we were to do a film programme, what would that look like and why would GWL specifically be a good place for it? We’ve done one-off screenings in the past but curating a whole programme is very different. For us film offers a different way to think about the collections and the history behind them.

Mae: Often the way that we work with partners is that they come to us with a proposal, but with this we’ve been able to, with Eilidh’s leadership, curate a selection of films where we’re actively participating in the decision-making process. Our volunteers have been a part of the selection process and it really feels representative of the way we work here – lots of different team members and community members feeding in. [GWL’s museum curator] Jenny and I are able to really get our juices flowing thinking of what collections might apply to films. It was developed in conversation which felt quite fun.

First up we’ve got The Watermelon Woman in October, introduced by Shola von Reinhold whose novel LOTE is also about retrieving a woman from the archives.

Eilidh: We were like: ‘Is this too obvious and heavy-handed?’ But there’s something so special about screening a film like The Watermelon Woman in GWL. It so speaks to what we do and it so speaks to what we want to do. Something that we’ve had conversations about before is that within our archives there are archival gaps. 

We’re really lucky to have so much material that speaks to Black women and Black lesbian communities, but there’s still stories that aren’t there and aren’t completely represented. Starting off with The Watermelon Woman gives us a really exciting entry point to be like: ‘So what is in these collections and also what isn’t in these collections? What stories do we have and what stories are missing?

Mae: There is the duality of us existing as a space that was responding to the fact that there were gaps or absences in the collecting of women’s history – that’s really at the core of why we exist as an organisation – but then also reflecting on the fact that our collections aren’t comprehensive of women’s experiences and they do have gaps themselves.

Eilidh: I’m such a huge fan of LOTE and I’m really excited about how Shola’s gonna approach it. We have LOTE in the collection somewhere; that’s another nice way for us to highlight the library collection as well as the archive and museum collection.

Next up is Sisters with Transistors, a documentary about electronic music’s pioneering women, in November, with Suzi Cook (Free Love, GLOSS) and music journalist Arusa Qureshi doing a panel discussion after.

Eilidh: We’ve been thinking about music a lot more recently: we have a jukebox right now, part of Ruth Ewan’s contribution to our Glasgow International show We Make Museums: Sustaining and Changing Worlds, and last year’s theme for our Open the Door festival was Women and Music. It’s really important for us to have Suzi and Arusa’s present-day reflections alongside the collection and the film, which look at these themes and ideas through a past tense lens.

Mae: We’re able to platform these pioneering women’s voices alongside current day pioneering women’s voices.

Then it’s Bye Bye Tiberias in December, introduced by M/others Against Genocide Scotland.

Eilidh: We’re so grateful to have MAGS with us, they’ve been central to the campaign for Palestinian liberation in Scotland. The work they’re doing around what it means to be a caretaker in relation to Palestinian solidarity is so needed, and that sense of motherhood and caretaking is something that’s really pressing within Bye Bye Tiberias itself.

Mae: We’ll be able to bring out a Palestinian embroidered waistcoat that was part of a collaborative exhibition we did with Taita Leila in 2016. We’ll display materials that are part of the Lesbian Archive and Information Centre, including the Outwrite women’s newspaper which was reporting on Palestine in the 1970s and 1980s. I really hope that we’re able to show the breadth and depth of activism within the winding histories of our collections at that event.

Then it’s Blue Jean in January, introduced by GWL’s very own Sue John.

Eilidh: Sue John is one of our codirectors; she’s been an activist for decades, and a huge part of her activism was campaigning against Section 28. She has an award from Stonewall next to her desk! 

Blue Jean is about a teacher navigating Section 28 and these histories of queer activism are very much histories of GWL – it’s not something that happens or has happened separate from GWL as a space and organisation. Jenny will be doing a mini Open Archive with materials from the campaign against Section 28.

Last in February is Whip It, Drew Barrymore’s film about roller derby, introduced by Ellie Harrison.

Eilidh: I love Whip It, it was such a special film when I was wee.

Mae: For 21 Revolutions, our 20th anniversary project, we asked 21 writers and artists to respond to the collections. Ellie was getting into roller derby at the time and she just saw a gap, essentially: a museum of roller derby did not exist so she created it. That collection started in 2012 and was a couple of boxes; it’s now over 20 boxes and includes programmes, helmets, wristbands, sweatbands, and rollerskate accessories. It’s always so much fun to look through.

What will these screenings provide that a traditional cinema screening wouldn’t?

Eilidh: The tickets are available to book at £5 or for free; that’s really important in terms of ensuring that anyone feels welcome and can afford to come. Accessibility is very much built into the GWL building, on a very physical level, but we feel really glad that because of the Film Hub Scotland funding we’re able to provide further access measures that are often difficult to afford: all these screenings are going to be subtitled; two of the events’ introductions will be BSL interpreted; the panel discussion for Sisters with Transistors will be live-captioned. 

Sometimes people find cinema spaces intimidating and overwhelming for various reasons whereas at GWL we’re known for a warm welcome and being gentle and low-key. There’s always tea and coffee for people, we always have biscuits on the go.

Mae: Very much at our core is tea.

Across the five films you’re covering topics that are of major relevance to feminism at large as well as to GWL itself. Were there any topics you didn’t get to include but wanted to, and will the series continue?

Eilidh: So many themes and films that we didn’t get to include! That was one of the hardest things, how much we could cover when feminist history is so expansive. 

A big thing within GWL is climate activism – we have collections from Greenham Common and a big part of what we do now is about sustainability and environmental activism – and that’s something this series hasn’t had a chance to touch on. We had so many ideas which highlighted how much we could do with this programme, so we’d like to apply for funding again.

Mae: Our collections are so broad and there’s so many different women’s stories threaded throughout that there’s lots of opportunities for future films.

You’ve hosted many screenings here over the years but I wanted to single out last year’s screening of Sugar Cane Alley, which June Givanni came up to present. Givanni’s feminism and dedication to archives feels very closely-aligned with GWL’s – are there other figures in film archive/curation that feel like allies of GWL?

Mae: We just had a conversation with London’s Screen Archive and The New Black Film Collective, who collaborated on a project to address the lack of home movies of the Black community in London. The learning that they were able to bring us about that three-year project was fantastic.

Eilidh: Top of mind for me is Invisible Women. They obviously do incredible stuff in terms of looking at women in archival film and women’s film archives. I think so many of those histories are forgotten or pushed aside, so the programming and curation that they do is really exciting. 

There’s also film collectives like Crip Cinema Collective, who did something as part of the BFI’s Melodrama programme last year – I think that was mainly programmed by Charlie Little and they did incredible stuff in terms of looking at melodrama through the lens of disabled stories and depictions of disabled communities on screen. 

Big fan of Jali Collective who are doing amazing stuff in terms of African film programming in Edinburgh. Obviously SQIFF! I feel like it’s a really exciting time for film programming and film curation in Scotland: we’re getting themes and films that are outwith the mainstream and they’re becoming more and more a part of our film culture and that just feels really exciting. It feels exciting to be a part of.

Mae: We had a donation from SQIFF as well with their programmes so it’s fantastic to have that as part of the collection as well.

Collections on Camera is at Glasgow Women’s Library on 1st October (The Watermelon Woman), 12th November (Sisters with Transistors), 10th December (Bye Bye Tiberias), 14th January (Blue Jean), and 18th February (Whip It).