Activistische film: De Rode Lantaren & Cinemien

Programme

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  Screening of a Short Film

  The Amsterdams Stadsjournaal (The Amsterdam City Newsreel) was founded 50 years ago in 1974 by a number of filmmakers, journalists and students. During its ten year existence, the group created 36 short and feature-length films about political and socio-economic issues varying from labour migration and housing shortages to drug problems and educational renewal.
  
  Amsterdams Stadsjournaal 2: Privé-eigendom en misdaad (1974, 13’) is about speculators in Amsterdam. Using the history of Piet Heinkade 61, they reveal how a building can have ‘utility for the few, yet be useless for the many’. The film, directed by Gerrard Verhage, is typical of the early period of the Amsterdams Stadsjournaal when the films were still clearly Marxist and campaigning in character. Featuring Dutch film director Fons Rademakers and actors Wim van der Grijn and Gees Linnebank. Introduction provided by Rommy Albers (curator Eye).

• De Rode Lantaren: Individualization of a film collective (30')

  Presented by Meg Weijers (trainee Eye). An abundance of film collectives were founded during the 1970s. With their collectivist approach they created activist films for and by target groups. After some time however, the collectivism was slowly replaced by individualism and the productions became more professional.
  
  This presentation examines this process of individualisation and professionalisation within the De Rode Lantaren film collective from Utrecht. Includes excerpts from the films Inpakken en wegwezen (1974), a short film about shop girls, and Buren (1982), a documentary about the arrival of labour migrants from Morocco and Turkey using Utrecht neighbourhood parties.

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  Cinemien & the First International Feminist Film and Video Conference (1981, 25’)

  Lecture by Gerdien Smit (policy advisor Eye). A historic event constituted a milestone in feminist cinematic history: the First International Feminist Film and Video Conference held in 1981, organised by the Feministisch Filmkollektief Cinemien (feminist film collective Cinemien) in collaboration with its English sister organisation COW (Cinema of Women) and countless women from various countries. An impressive 200 participants came to Amsterdam from over 30 countries including Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, the Philippines, India, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and Burkina Faso.
  
  The unique gathering of such a diverse group of women was unprecedented and constituted one of the conference’s important themes. One of the four locations was entirely dedicated to screening films from what were then known as ‘third world countries’. Many filmmakers brought their own work with them and in total some 116 films in various formats including 35 mm, 16 mm, 8 mm, VHS and multimedia were screened. The conference also provided a wide range of workshops on themes including feminist filmmaking in the third world, working with film and video collectively, lesbian cinema history, violence against women in films and feminist film education.
  
  A lively impression is created of this conference – that served as an important platform for the exchange of ideas, experiences and films within the global feminist film movement – utilising Cinemien’s business archives that are lodged with Eye and film material, including the recent digitisation of the conference’s trailer that was created by Monique Renault.