One Way or Another

Too often, a filmmaker’s output is measured by quantity. Retrospectives are built around directors who have produced a “body of work” and canons are formed based on ideas of quality which privilege bigger budgets and polished production values. This approach means that films made by historically marginalized filmmakers - especially women and global majority filmmakers - can struggle to find a place on the cinema screen. Where do we place those glorious one-offs from film history? Those furious, brilliant singular works which expand our ideas of what cinema is, can and could be?

This programme, which coincides with International Women’s Day 2024, brings together three underseen works from cinema history, each of which was the sole directorial feature of a woman filmmaker. These women were, for many reasons, unable to make another feature and all of these films have struggled to find their way to audiences over the years. Now, thanks to new restorations, these gems are ready to be rediscovered by a new generation. One way or another, these one-offs deserve to be seen, on the big screen, where they belong. (RP)

Rachel Pronger is a writer and curator, and co-founder of archive activist feminist film collective Invisible Women. Rachel is part of the Editorial team at SiNEMA TRANSTOPIA.