Invisible Women at Whitespace, Edinburgh

Yesterday evening, I attended a fantastic event entitled 'Invisible Women' at Whitespace in Edinburgh, which consisted of seven screenings by pioneering women filmmakers. Many films were dated from the 1930s and 40s and had ties to both the UK and Canada. The filmmakers presented included: Ruby Grierson, Marion Grierson, Mary Field, Evelyn Spice Cherry, Kay Mander, Evelyn Lambart, and Jenny Gilbertson. Each screening was truly fascinating and led me to consider the following notes:

- voice over narration is often by men (authoritative male voice?)

- docudrama as pedagogical film

- labour/leisure

- city life/rural or pastoral

- machines and industrialisation 

- the woman in the home and outside

- moral storytelling

- historical storytelling (through narratives within the larger narrative)

- natural observation (science)

- family

- women and illness

- mobility/immobility 

- media and methods for transportation / access to rural places (e.g. Highlands and Islands, Arctic Canada)

- collaboration between UK (or Scotland) and Canada

- Grierson's position with regard to his sister's filmmaking careers and women more generally 

- humour and politics

- humour and information 

- seaside / inland 

- autobiographical documentary

- journeys 

- histories of 'forgotten' filmmakers (often women) and how to recount these histories and explain for their absence in film studies/history 

- how to address the overlook of women filmmakers/artists

I hope for more events like this one!