WIC/WRC Videos P-S
P...Q...R...S
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Panel of International Women
A panel of students talk about the issues women are confronting in their countries. Participants include students from Saudi Arabia and the Sudan, Netherlands, Germany and Bulgaria. Part of Women's History Celebration 2007. VHS and DVD.
Passamaquoddy
Players
"We Have To Find Our Voices: Transforming Passamaquoddy Communities".
62 Minutes, July 2004.
Pattiann Rogers
Part of the Lannan Library Film Series. Pattiann Rogers weaves biological,
botanical, and zoological details into her astonishing poetry. Her identification
with the natural world results in poetry that is intense, spiritual, and
sensual. Ms. Rogers reads from Geocentric, The Tattooed Lady in the Garden,
Splitting and Binding and unpublished work. (90 min. 1993)
Paula Gunn Allen
Reads Her Poetry
An on-campus poetry reading by Paula Gunn Allen, a professor of English at
the University of California at Los Angeles, a Laguna Pueblo Lakota and a poet.
(90 min. 1993)
Paule Marshall
Part of the Lannan Library Film Series. Paule Marshall, born and raised in
Brooklyn, New York, has said that the source of her art is the expressive
talk she heard as a girl among West Indian women in her mother's kitchen.
Ms. Marshall, who has received a MacArthur Fellowship, has written four
novels and two collections of stories. (60 min. 1994)
People Like Us: Social Class in America
Social class. It's the 800-pound gorilla in American life that most Americans don't think about: how do income, family background, education, attitudes, aspirations, and even appearance mark someone as a member of a particular social class? People Like Us shows how social class plays a role in the lives of all Americans, whether they live in Park Avenue penthouses, Appalachian trailer parks, bayou houseboats or suburban gated communities. The documentary travels across the country presenting stories that will resonate with viewers regardless of where they see themselves on the social spectrum - stories of family traditions, class mobility, and different lifestyle choices. An exciting cast of characters and commentators help make the connections between daily life and the larger issues of class in America. (124 minutes, 2001, VHS)
Penobscot
Basket Maker: Barbara Francis
As a young woman, Barbara Francis was facing poverty
and single parenting when Penobscot elder women took her in and
taught her to make baskets. her passion for basketry gave her
life direction and meaning, put her in touch with her own cultural
roots, and brought her recognition for her artistry. (Part of
UMaine's 2003 Women's History Celebration)
Performance
as Feminist Activism
Spring 2005 WIC/WST Lunch Series with Elizabeth Whitney. 3-29-05.
Performing Voices:
Women's Experiences of Body Rituals and Caesarian Births
An on-campus performance/reading by Linda Buckmaster, Instructor in Communication
at the University of Maine at Augusta and Krista M. Hirschman, Graduate Student
in Communication and Journalism, present the stories and experiences of women
who have had Caesarian section births. (90 min. 1996)
Personal Economies: A Longitudinal Report on the Economic Status of COLT Staff in the University of Maine System
Part of the Women in the Curriculum Fall 2006 Lunch Series. Janine Bonk, Administrative Assistant of Admissions, University of Maine at Farmington; Jane Crouch, Secretary, Bureau of Labor Education; Loraine Lowell, Librarian Assistant, University of Southern Maine and Vice-President, ACSUM; Phyllis VonHerrlich, Administrative Assistant, Muskie School, University of Southern Maine. DVD & VHS Format.
The Personal File
of Anna Akhmatova
This film introduces the viewer to Anna Akhmatova, one of the most important
poetic voices of the 20th century and a legend in the former Soviet Union.
The film portrays the struggles of this celebrated poet, who was persecuted
by the Soviet state throughout her literary career. (63 min.)
Perspectives on
Race, Civil Rights , and Feminism
An on-campus presentation by Kathleen Neal Cleaver, Assistant Professor of
Law at Emory University and a former member of SNCC and the Black Panther Party.
In her lecture, she discusses how participation in the Civil Rights movement
affected her attitude towards the women's movement, other women, and the role
feminists have in race-based struggles. (30 min. 1995)
The Piano
One of the most critically acclaimed and highly awarded films of the year,
The Piano arouses erotic passions and vengeful jealousies. Ada, a young
mute woman (Holly Hunter) is desired by two men, her husband by an arranged
marriage (Sam Neil) and the husband's darkly intense neighbor (Harvey Keitel).
Violent emotions erupt, but only one man understands that Ada's heart can
only be won through her beloved piano. (121 min. 1995)
The Piano Lesson
August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning tale of a family caught between their
heritage and a dream for the future comes to the screen. The Charles family
has survived a turbulent past, at the heart of their struggle stands a
magnificent piano. A carved piano that carries their family's story from
their days as slaves. A piano that has cost them dearly in tears...and
bloodshed. Boy Willie wants to sell the piano to buy a farm -- the same
fields their family worked as slaves. But his sister, Bernice, refused
to part with it. For her, the piano is their very soul, a legacy of pride
and struggle that symbolizes their survival as a family. As they clash
over the piano's fate -- and their family's future -- they must come to
terms with the demons in their past... and the memories that threaten to
destroy them as a family once and for all. Alfre Woodard stars as Bernice.
(99 min. 1995)
The Pill
In May 1960, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of the
contraceptive pill, a drug that would arguably have a greater impact on
American culture than any other in the nation's history. Within five years,
more than six million American women would make it part of their daily
lives. The change was remarkable. In some of the freshest and most revealing
sequences of the film, the first generation of pill users describe the
prevailing sexual attitudes of the 1950's and talk frankly about being
terrified at the prospect of having one baby after another for the duration
of their fertile lives. These women, now in their sixties and seventies,
explain the enormous impact the pill had on their lives. It is through
these personal stories that the film reveals how two elderly women, a scientist,
and a physician unleashed a social revolution. (PBS Video)
The Planned Giving
Executive Workshop
A detailed, in-depth, technical discussion of estate planning for non-profit
organizations. Suitable for executive administrators. (200 min. 1988 or 1989)
Playing Unfair:
The Media Image of the Female Athlete
Sports media scholars Mar Jo Kane (University of Minnesota),
Pat Griffin (University of Massachusetts), and Michael Messner
(University of Southern California) look at the persistence of
heterosexism and homophobia in perpetuating gender stereotypes.
They argue for new media images which fairly and accurately depict
the strength and competence o female athletes. Using numerous
media examples, Playing Unfair is sure to stimulate debate among
women and men, athletes and non-athletes about the meaning of
these images in a world transformed by the presences of women
in sport. (30 min. 2002)
PMS Access
This video contains two short films dealing with Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
(1991)
- Managing PMS
A Delicate Balance This educational program about Premenstrual Syndrome discusses
the symptoms associated with the syndrome, theories as to its cause, diagnostic
techniques and an evaluation of the various types of therapy and medications
available for the treatment of PMS. (39 min.)
- Give Yourself
a Break
High levels of stress can exacerbate PMS and can, in fact, trigger the onset
of PMS. This short stress reduction exercise session aims to help women reduce
and manage their stress so as to gain relief. (14 min.)
Poet and "The
Nation" Columnist
A talk with Katha Pollitt. Also an interview with Ani Difranco-"What is
the Future of Feminism?" at Bates College. (1997)
The Poetry of Rita
Joe
*THIS VIDEO IS CURRENTLY MISSING FROM OUR COLLECTION*
An on-campus poetry reading as part of the Women's History
Celebration. A Micmac, Joe was born on Cape Breton, Nova
Scotia, and now resides on the Eskasoni Reserve. While her
poetry addresses the devastating effects of "mental colonization",
it also reveals the strength of Native tradition, and credits Joe's "Native
upbringing by many mothers." (90 min. 1995)
The Political
Representation of Sexual Difference: Le Mouvement pour la
Pante in Late 20th Century France (Social/Marxist Luncheon
Series)
Lecture presented by Dr. Joan Wallach Scott, a leading
theorist and practitioner of cultural history. Currently she
is a Professor in the School of Social Science, Institute for
Advanced Study, Princeton.
The Political Uses
of Quilts: A Continuing Tradition
An on-campus lecture and discussion. Elizabeth Hoffman, Assistant Professor
of Art creates a framework for considering quilts within a political context.
Cara Finnegan, Graduate Student in Speech Communication, discusses her research
and study of the NAMES quilt, which commemorates people who have died of AIDS.
Kristin Langellier, Professor of Speech Communication, considers the rhetoric
over the controversy involving the Smithsonian Institution's decision to license
quilt designs from its collections for overseas production. (30 min. 1995)
The Politics of
Looking Back: Style, Gesture and Resistance in Female Activism
An on-campus lecture by Ardis Cameron, Professor of History at the University
of Southern Maine. Cameron discusses the role of women in the labor movement
and on the picket lines. (90 min. 1993)
Population and
People of Faith: It's About Time
In this video church leaders, ecologists, health specialists, population experts,
political leaders, and grassroots women discuss the relationship between population
growth and the world's social, economic, and environmental problems. They also
discuss potential solutions to the problem of overpopulation, including increasing
the status of women. (13 min. 1999)
Prime Minister
and Environmentalist
In 1981, Gro Harlem Brundtland became the first woman to
be elected Prime Minister of Norway. A Harvard-educated physician
by profession, Brundtland has also been a prominent environmental
agent facing policy makers today. She introduces the concept
of "sustainable development" and also talks about
the increasingly important role of women in politics. (30
min. 1993)
The Pursuit of
Justice: The Legal and Civil Rights of African American Women
in 18th-Century Florida
An on-campus lecture. Jane Landers, an Assistant Professor of History at Vanderbilt
University in Nashville, describes how women of African descent -- free and
slave -- sought legal and social justice in conservative, patriarchal Spanish
Florida. She also highlights the individual voices of these women to relate
to their successes and failures. (75 min. 1995)
Q
A Question of Color
This is the first documentary to confront "color consciousness" in the black community. It explores the devastating effect of a caste system based on how closely skin color, hair texture and facial features conform to a European ideal. It provides a unique window for examining cross-cultural issues of identity and self-image for anyone who has experienced prejudice. A Question of Color is particularly sensitive to the special burden color consciousness imposes on women. Darker skinned women recall how they have felt devalued and desexualized because of the bias in favor of European standards of beauty. Lighter skinned women reveal the pain of exclusion and ridicule because of their presumed sense of superiority. Evocative footage recalls how the "Black is Beautiful" movement of the 1960s attempted to place a positive value on African physical and cultural characteristics. But comments by young people indicate that the color problem lingers. (58 minutes, 1992, VHS)
Quiet Courage:
A Story of Five Women
This video, produced by the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons),
addresses issues facing older women in career transition. Hosted by Rosalynn
Carter, Quiet Women profiles five women facing the challenges of an often uncertain
future. Their experiences serve as a source of inspiration for older women
seeking to reenter the workforce, or else make a transition into a different
career position. A resource guide is included with the video. (28 min. 1990)
Quilts in Women's
Lives
These portraits of American quilt makers provide insights into the inspirations
for their work, family, tradition, the joy of the creative process, and the
challenge of design, and how it has become a part of their daily lives. Seven
women, including a California Mennonite, a Bulgarian immigrant and an African
American from Mississippi are portrayed. (28 min. 1986)
R
Race: The Power of an Illusion
This film challenges one of our most fundamental beliefs: that human beings come divided into a few distinct groups. This definitive three-part series (we have episodes two and three) is an eye-opening tale of how what we assume to be normal, commonsense, even scientific, is actually shaped by our history, social institutions and cultural beliefs.
Episode two, The Story We Tell, questions the belief that race has always been with us. Ancient peoples stigmatized "others" based on language, custom and especially religion, but they did not sort people into "races." Instead, the program traces the race concept to the European conquest of the Americas, including the development of the first slave system where all slaves shared a physical trait - dark skin. Ironically, it wasn't until slavery was challenged on moral grounds that early prejudices - emboldened by the need to defend slavery in a nation that professed a deep belief in freedom - crystallized into a full-blown ideology of white supremacy. By the mid-19th century, race had become the "commonsense" wisdom of white America, explaining everything from individual behavior to the fate of whole societies The Story We Tell reveals the startling story of how social inequalities came to be disguised as "natural." (56 minutes, 2003, VHS)
Episode Three, The House We Live In, focuses not on individual behaviors and attitudes, but on how our institutions shape and create race, giving different groups vastly unequal life chances. Who is white? In the early 20th century, the answer wasn't always clear. Often the courts had to decide, and they resorted to contradictory logic to maintain the color line. After World War II, whiteness increasingly meant owning a home in the suburbs, aided by discriminatory federal policies. European "ethnics," once considered not quite white, blended together as they reaped the advantages of whiteness - including increased equity as property values rose dramatically - while African Americans and other nonwhites were locked out. Today the average white family has eight times the wealth of the average Black family. Forty years after the Civil Rights movement, the playing field is still not level, and "colorblind" policies only perpetuate these inequities. (56 minutes, 2003, VHS)
Race Talks Among
Undergraduate Women
Part of the WIC Lunch Series. The speaker was Ana Mart’nez Alem‡n,
Assistant Professor, School of Education, Boston College. (1998)
Rachel Carson's
Silent Spring
Profiles the scientist whose book sparked a revolution in governmental policy
regarding the environment. (60 min.)
Rachel Rosenthal:
Searching for a Boon
The documentary focuses on Rachel Rosenthal, a world renowned performance artist
and the founder of the Rachel Rosenthal Company in Los Angeles. She received
a grant in 1991 to create a 10-week multicultural workshop in performance art.
Searching for a Boon documents those ten weeks of preparation and discipline
for their final performance. She believes the purpose of that performance is
to bring out the spirit of the artist by making a personal statement. (58 min.)
Rachel's Daughters:
Searching for the Causes of Breast Cancer
This fascinating documentary follow s group of women
- all breast cancer activist who oar fighting or have survived
the disease - who are on a personal mission to unearth the causes
of breast cancer. Seeing themselves as spiritual heirs of author
Rachel Carson, whose 1962 book Silent Spring warned of the dangers
of DDT exposure, they focus on issues including chemical contamination,
radiation, and electromagnetic exposure to find breast cancer's
causes. Addressing environmental racism, inequalities in research
funding, and disparities in cancer rates for women of color,
they track the effects of social biases on cancer incidence and
health care delivery. (107 min. 1997)
Radical Feminist
Theologian Mary Daly: The Quest for Quintessence
Mary Daly reads from her latest work, Quintessence - Realizing the Archaic
Future, A Radical Elemental Feminist Manifesto. Gretchen Van Ness comments
on Mary Daly's ongoing legal battle with Boston College. Also includes the
Sunday Afternoon Women's Circle. (1999)
A Raisin in the
Sun
A $10,000 insurance check can allow the Youngers to finally escape their frustrating
life in a crowded Chicago apartment. But escape means different things to each
family member. Walter Lee (Sidney Poitier) wants to invest in a liquor store.
Lena (Claudia McNeil), Walter Lee's widowed mother, wants to buy a house, and
Lena's daughter in college (Ruby Dee) could use the money to complete medical
school. Walter risks it all on the liquor store and is ruined. Walter Lee is
then faced with selling the family's new house to a homeowner's association
that pays well to keep blacks out. Based on the play by Lorraine Hansberry.
(128 min. B/W, 1961)
Raising Their Voices:
The Politics of Girls' Anger
Part of the WIC Lunch Series. The speaker was Lyn Mikel-Brown, Associate Professor
of Women's Studies, Education and Human Development, Colby College. (1998)
The Real Ellen
Story
"ABC silenced the show but with this tale of self-empowerment, it's Ellen
who gets the last word," writes Entertainment Weekly's Jamie Bufalino. Interviews
with Ellen DeGeneres, Anne Heche, Oprah Winfrey, Melissa Etheridge, Laura Dern,
Diane Sawyer, and ABC/Disney Executives help reveal the behind the scenes stories
of the most controversial television episode in history. (52 minutes, 1998, VHS Format)
Rebecca Walker:
The Third Wave of Feminism
An on-campus event given as part of Women's History Celebration. The daughter
of an interracial couple who married in defiance of Mississippi's anti-miscegenation
laws, Rebecca Walker is true to her birthright; she continues to agitate. One
of the most audible voices of the young women's movement, Walker is a contributing
editor to Ms. Magazine and editor of To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing
the Face of Feminism. She was recently named one of TIME magazine's 50 future
leaders of America. With a focus on leadership and activism, Walker explores
the boundaries of the feminist community and what a feminist politics and identity
are. Talking on issues such as racism, sexism, and sexual identity, she challenges
us to embrace social, political, and economic equality for all humanity and
to recognize a new relationship between the personal and the political. (90
min. 1998)
Reclaiming a Past
A powerful performance piece by actress Judith Sloan in which she creates the
character "Sophie": a composite of several elderly European Jewish
women she interviewed as part of an oral history project. Sloan brilliantly
weaves the lives, feelings, thoughts and dreams of these women into her
performance as "Sophie". (15 min.)
Reconstructing
Babylon: Women in Engineering
An on-campus lecture delivered as part of the Women's History Celebration.
Patricia Hynes, an author and professor at MIT, explores the crucial role women
have played in defining and shaping technology. (75 min. 1993)
Red Sorghum
Beginning as a lusty romantic comedy about a nervous young bride's arrival
and ensuing seduction at a remote winery, and ending as a heroic and harrowing
drama of partisan resistance during the Japanese occupation, Red Sorghum
is, a "gorgeous fable." Acclaimed as the most popular film of
the Chinese new wave in filmmaking. (Mandarin with English subtitles. 91
min. 1987)
Reflections on
Being a Sephardic Jewish Woman
An on-campus presentation. Rita Arditti, a Women's Studies scholar and cofounder
of the Women's Community Cancer Project. The daughter of Turkish immigrants
who fled to Argentina to escape rising anti-Semitism, Arditti relates her personal
observations on being a Sephardic Jew in this highly personal journey into
one woman's identity. (75 min. 1992)
Reflections
on the Writing of Saigon Memories: A Cookbook
WIC/WST Spring 2004 Lunch Series with Kay Retzlaff. 4-14-04.
Regret to Inform
Venturing to Vietnam twenty years after her husband was killed in a mortar
attack, filmmaker Barbara Sonneborn finds a mesmerizing landscape filled
with the psychic remnants of war. Getting beyond the physical and emotional
devastation, she talks to those on all sides of the struggle, discovering
a common bond in loss and ultimately understanding. Filled with archival
footage, breathtaking visions of modern day Vietnam, and heart-wrenching
stories from American and Vietnamese women who lost their husbands to war,
this video takes the viewer on an unforgettable journey that begins with
the phrase, "We regret to inform you" (72 min. 1998)
The Reindeer Queen:
The Story of Alaska's Sinrock Mary
This film documents the life of an Alaskan Eskimo woman whose tenacity and
spirit led her to play a significant role in the turbulent history of Alaska's
Arctic. Combining rare archival footage, stills and interviews with people
who knew her, this unusual film brings to life the Alaskan frontier at the
end of the last century. Her story is all the more remarkable in view of the
prejudice against Native Americans during the Gold Rush Era. (28 min. 1992)
Religion and Sexuality:
Gender Roles in the
Major Religious Traditions
Presented by a panel of Bangor-area religious leaders. Part of the Religion and Sexuality series, organized by Sandy Caron. Part of the Fall 2007 WIC Lunch Series. 10-30-07. DVD and VHS format available.
Remember the Witches
Laurie Meeker explores witchcraft as a "women's crime", by analyzing
how medieval European societies used witch-hunts as a tool for political and
social control. Meeker effectively integrates the tragedies of history with
a positive perspective of the ancient women's healing traditions often defined
as witchcraft. (22 min. 1985)
Reproductive Rights
Part of the Women in the Curriculum Lunch Series. Speaker Carol Joffe discusses
the importance of reproductive rights and what it means for everyone involved.
(3/31/00)
Reviving Ophelia:
Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls (Classroom Edition)
In this exclusive, illustrated interview, Mary Pipher, Ph.D., discusses the
challenges facing today's teenagers, especially girls, as well as the role
of media and popular culture in shaping their identities. She offers concrete
ideas for girls and boys, families, teachers, and schools to help girls free
themselves from the toxic influences of today's media-saturated culture. (35
min. 1998)
Rishte
Following the story of Lali Devi, a mother of five daughters who poisoned herself
and two of her daughters, Rishte explores the practice of male sex preference
in India and how this led to her suicide. This moving and informative film
also follows the efforts of Shyamkali, an activist who has established
a community organization dedicated to raising Indian women's awareness
about the impact of sex preference on their lives and their legal rights
in this issue. Rishte is part of the series Women's Lives and Choices.
(28 min. 1995)
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks forever changes the appearance of segregation in the South. After
a long day's work, she takes the only available seat in the first row of
the "colored" section on the bus. When a white man boards and
the driver demands that the black riders in her row move, the others comply,
but not Rosa. This singular event causes an uproar throughout the South,
throwing Rosa and her family into a ring of hatred. Is it possible for
one woman's efforts to alter centuries of discrimination and injustice
toward her people? Starring Angela Bassett and Cicely Tyson. (100 min.
2001)
S
Saheri's Choice
This program examines the custom of arranged marriages in India. It follows
the story of one girl and her family as they confront the reality of an
impending marriage that was arranged when the girl was barely six years
old. An overview of the custom presents it as common among all castes,
although many Indians view the practice in a negative light. Education,
family wealth, and astrological compatibility are examined as important
in determining with whom the marriages are arranged. In one case, the issue
of dowry leads to the suicide of a young female marriage prospect. Severe
penalties for breaking engagements are discussed, along with divorce negotiations
should the marriage fail. This is a candid glimpse into contemporary Indian
society. (27 min. 1998)
The Same-Sex
Marriage Debate: A Survey of Arguments
Cheshire Calhoun, Colby College. Part of the 2004 Socialist
and Marxist Studies Luncheon Series. 3-18-04.
Sarah Jane Foster,
Teacher of Freedmen
An on-campus lecture delivered by Wayne Reilly. Foster, a native of Gray, Maine,
taught freed black slaves in Martinsburg, West Virginia in the years following
the end of the Civil War. Reilly, a direct descendant of Foster and the editor
of Foster's diaries and letters, discusses his research methods in locating
materials on Foster as well as recounting the resulting personal history of
Foster's efforts at securing social justice through education. Given that very
few personal diaries from this time period still exist, Foster's diary is an
extremely important document of women's history during the Reconstruction period.
(75 min. 1993)
Save a Sweetheart
This video presentation offers step-by-step instructions on how to perform
a breast self-examination, as well as statistical information about the
rate of incidence of breast cancer regionally and worldwide. Produced by
WABI -TV 5 (Bangor). (7 min.)
Saving Title IX: A Call for Action
Lynn Atherley, Head Volleyball Coach, Janice Clark, Interim Director of Student Services, Athletics Program, Rena Lolar, Graduate Student in Psychology, Kristin Langellier, Moderator. Part of the Women in the Curriculum and Women's Studies Program Spring 2006 Lunch Series. (2/15/06, VHS, DVD)
Science and Gender:
Evelyn Fox Keller
When in the 1950s, Evelyn Fox Keller sallied forth to become a scientist, she
discovered it was a man's world. Training as a theoretical physicist and working
in both mathematical biology and the history of science, she wondered why most
scientists were men and why the language of science reflected masculine metaphors
and values. Keller has grappled with the meaning and consequences of these
stereotypes ever since. In this program with Bill Moyers, Keller discusses
how gender plays a significant role in the language that scientists use to
describe their work. (30 min. 1990)
Scout's Honor
"To be physically strong, mentally awake, and morally
straight" - this is the Boy Scout Oath. Since 1910, millions
of boys have joined. But today, if you are openly gay, you can't.
Witness how one remarkable 13-year-old Scout named Steven Cozza
launches a campaign to overturn the ban on gays. Scouting for
All is the movement built by Cozza with the help of a long-time
Scout leader, community members, and his own family. Scout's
Honor also includes the stories of ousted gay Eagle Scouts Tim
Curran and James Dale, whose legal cases culminated at the United
States Supreme Court where a private organization's right to
determine its membership goes head to head with a state's right
to protect all its citizens. Moving from Petaluma, California
to the Supreme Court, the film chronicles a modern interpretation
of the Scouting ideals of courage, citizenship, and honor. (60
min. 2001)
The Search for
Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe
Comedy by the incomparable Lily Tomlin. (120 min. 1992)
Secrets Underground:
Archaeologist Patty Jo Watson
Archaeologist Patty Jo Watson's work in caves has uncovered intriguing new
information about the earliest North Americans and has led to a re-evaluation
of our beliefs about them. In this program she discusses her studies of early
human activity and her provocative new theory about gender roles in early societies.
Part of the PBS Discovering Women Series. (60 min. 1996)
See Me: Five
Young Latinas
Five teen-aged Latinas living in San Francisco's Mission
District - most of them recent immigrants from Meio or other
Central American countries - talk frankly about their lives,
from discrimination and school, to friends and family relationships,
experiences with gang violence, and plans for the future. Their
comments are blended with footage of neighborhood life to provide
meaningful insights into the lives of young Hispanic women in
the U.S. (30 min. 1999)
Serving in Silence:
Margarethe Cammermeyer
A lecture given for Pride Week. Cammermeyer was the highest ranking out lesbian
in the U.S. Army when she resigned. (1999)
Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence in Maine
Conference on 11/18/05 with Sarah Deer. VHS and DVD.
Shahrbanoo
Shahrbanoo is an unlikely story: An American woman,
Melissa, visits her new husband's family - which happens to live
in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Tehran. Melissa is befriended
by Shahrbanoo who has been moonlighting as her mother-in-law's
housekeeper for more than a quarter of a century without the
knowledge of Shahrbanoo's own family. Shahrbanoo invites Melissa
(and her husband with his ever-present camera in tow) to a family
gathering where she is treated to an intense cultural exchange
about subjects ranging from women's place in society to American
foreign policy. The documentary is an alternatively heart-warming,
hilarious, harrowing and heartrending testimony to the hidden
ties that connect us across vast cultural gulfs. (57 min. 2002)
Sharon Olds
Part of the Lannan Library Film Series. Sharon Olds' poetry has the intensity
and power to move the reader, whether her subject be personal family life
or political events. Her first book, Satan Says, received the inaugural
San Francisco Poetry Center Award, and her book, The Dead and the Living,
won a national Book Critics Circle Award. Ms. Olds read from The Gold Cell,
The Dead and the Living and from work in progress. (60 min. 1991)
Shattered Lives
This intense video educates the viewer regarding the cycles of violence while
offering a positive perspective on addressing crime in the home. Strong
emphasis is focused on young people and the effects of domestic violence
on children. Our focus shows that not only through individual change and
community dialogue will lasting solutions to domestic violence be achieved.
The video includes interviews with professionals who work with victims,
as well as the violent parties. Music by Big Head Todd and the Monsters,
Loreena McKennitt, Sarah McLachlan, U2, and the Pretenders. (45 min. 1999)
She Says: Women
in News A PBS special on 10 women journalists. Tells
the story of how these women have changed the media and the
world. These women have given their unique perceptive on
the issues in our lives and reinvented the way news is told
(2001)
A Shining Thread
of Hope: The History of Black Women in American
An on-campus lecture given by Darlene Clark Hine, John A. Hannah Professor
of History at Michigan State and the author of Black Women in White: Racial
Conflict and Cooperation in the Nursing Profession. Part of the Multicultural
Women's Studies Institute. (90 min. 1998)
Shirley Caesar
and the Souls of Black Folk: Gospel Music as Cultural Critique
Shortchanging Girls,
Shortchanging America
This short film, produced by the AAUW (American Association of University Women),
offers a general overview of how girls frequently experience gender inequity
in the educational system. The film also discusses how girls' self-esteem is
frequently adversely affected by their experiences in school. (19 min. 1991)
Silencing Our Inner
Voices: Women and Depression
A 1997 on-campus lecture given as part of Mental Illness Awareness Week. Maria
M. Baeza, a licensed clinical social worker, discusses how to decrease the
stigma attached to mental illness and women who are depressed. (30 min.)
Silicon Vision:
Computational Neuroscientist Misha Mahowald
As a child, Misha Mahowald went on a ride at Disneyland where
visitors were "shrunk
down" into "water molecules." Being only a child, she thought
what she was seeing was real. "The world suddenly was much more interesting
than I'd been led to believe, because there were all these things that were
normally invisible that were really there," she remembers. Today Mahowald
brings the same delighted curiosity to her work as young scientist in a very
young field, computational neuroscience, a combination of computer science
and biology. Although she was only 29 (when film was created) years old, she
has already played a major part in the development of a silicon retina, a tiny
computer chip that reacts to light as the eye's retina does. (60 min. 1995)
Silk and Steel:
New Roles for Indonesian Women
As Asian economies boom and their governments grapple with
claims for democracy and human rights, women have begun to
play a key role in reshaping the traditionally male-dominated
culture of southeast Asia, and Indonesia is no exception.
Women have often held second place in Indonesia. They have
been valued as wives and mothers, but denied the educational
and legal opportunities offered to men. As workers, they
have suffered from sexual discrimination. Politically they
are poorly represented and culturally they are increasingly under pressure
from the Moslem religion to cover up and stay home. This film looks at three
Indonesian women of different professions a lawyer, a rock star, and
a TV journalist. (56 min. 1999)
The Sins of Our
Mothers
This video, part of a 10-part PBS series called The American Experience, recounts
a Gothic tale about sin and redemption in 19th-century New England and the
impact of a legend on the town of Fayette, ME. At the heart of the story is
a woman named Emeline Gurney, who was sent by her impoverished parents to work
in the mills of Lowell, Massachusetts. (58 min. 1989)
Sisters of '77: The Struggles and Triumphs in the Battle for
Equal Rights
On an historic weekend in November of 1977, twenty thousand women and men left their jobs and homes in cities and small towns around the country to end discrimination against women and promote their equal rights. For four days at the first National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas, they caucused, argued and finally hammered out resolutions that revolutionized the women's movement. Archival footage breathes life into heated debates over controversial issues like the equal rights amendment, reproductive freedom, lesbian rights, sexual preference and minority rights. Current interviews with Gloria Steinem, Ellie Smeal, Ann Richards, Carmen Delgado Votaw, Liz Carpenter, and Betty Friedan bring a deeper understanding to the legacy of the conference. Media Projects, Inc. 55 minutes.
Slaying the
Dragon
Slaying the Dragon is a comprehensive look at media stereotypes of Asian and
Asian American women since the silent era. From the racist use of white actors
to portray Asians in early Hollywood films, through the success of Anna May
Wong's sinister dragon lady, to Suzie Wong and the 50's geisha girls, to the
Asian-American anchorwoman of today, this fascinating videotape shows how stereotypes
of exoticism and docility have affected the perception of Asian-American women.
A film by Deborah Gee, 1988, 60 minutes.
Small Happiness:
Women of a Chinese Village
*THIS VIDEO IS CURRENTLY MISSING FROM OUR COLLECTION*
The Chinese proverb "to give birth to a boy is considered a big happiness;
to give birth to a girl is a small happiness" sets the stage for this
engaging look at the lives of the women of a small Chinese village. Despite
profound changes in women's lives, traditional attitudes persist in Chinese
rural areas, as evidenced by the preference for boys. Filmed without any governmental
restrictions, the women of Long Bow talk about marriage, birth control, work
and daily life. This intimate look at rural Chinese women is beautifully constructed,
with a subtlety and sensitivity unique to ethnographic film. (58 min. 1987)
The Smell
of Burning Ants
A haunting account of the pains and trauma of growing up male. It evocatively
presents the inner and outer cruelties that boys perpetrate and endure. Rather
than glorifying and romanticizing boyhood, this film opens up wounds to let
the poisons out and facilitate healing. Without giving answers the film asks
us to look at and become conscious of the ways in which boys are deprived of
wholeness. For men in particular, who characteristically fail to notice their
own suffering, this film can be useful in penetrating the barriers to remembering
and feeling their difficult childhood experiences. Comes with a study and discussion
guide for the film. (21 minutes)
So How Well is
the College Curriculum Recognizing Race and Gender?
(WIC Luncheon Series) Peggy McIntosh, Associate Director, Wellesley Center
for Research on Women, asks the audience to bring their own experiences to
the discussion held at the Bodwell Lounge of the Maine Center for the Arts.
(75 min. 1999)
Social Transformation
and Psycho-Spiritual Healing:
Strategies for Peace and Justice in the Era of George Bush and Ariel Sharon
Howard B. Schonberger Peace & Social Justice Lecturer
Rabbi Michael Lerner. 11-6-03.
Sojourner Truth
An on-campus presentation. Nell Painter, author of Exodusters and Standing
at Armageddon, places ex-slave, feminist and abolitionist Sojourner Truth
in the context of American reform. (90 min. 1992)
"Someone's
Got To Pick Eggs": Women's Work in Family Storytelling
Kristin Langellier and Eric Peterson. Part of the Spring 2004 WIC/WST Luncheon
Series. 3-23-04.
Something Like
A War
This film by Deepra Dhanraj consists of conversations between a group of Indian
women who discuss menstruation, marriage, family planning, population control,
and poverty in India. Hindi with English subtitles. (52 min. 1991)
Song of the Exile
Renowned Taiwanese director Ann Hui, an internationally recognized chronicler
of Asian life, offers up this memorable film that depicts the fundamental
tenets of a relationship between a mother and her daughter. Hueyin Cheung,
having just graduated from a university in Britain, returns home for her
sister's wedding, only to find herself at odds with her imperious mother.
Reluctantly accompanying her mother on a visit to Japan, Hueyin comes to
understand that she and her mother are very much alike, having suffered
similar feelings of loss and alienation throughout their adult lives. In
Mandarin and Japanese, with English subtitles. (100 min. 1990)
Sonia Sanchez
Part of the Lannan Library Film Series. Sonia Sanchez is a dynamic poet, playwright,
activist and teacher whose work advocates ethnic pride and unity among
African Americans. Sonia Sanchez read from Homegirls & Handgrenades
and Under a Soprano Sky. (60 min. 1991)
Sorceress
A drama revolving about Etienne de Bourbon, a 13th century Dominican friar
who, sent by the Pope to seek out heretics, arrives in a small French village
where he discovers Elda, the strangely beautiful and mysterious forest
woman. Elda is respected in the village because she performs ancient healing
rituals and understands nature's secrets. Sorceress is an historically
accurate dramatization of the conflict between ancient customs and religious
dogma. (98 min. 1988)
Speak-Out on Domestic
Violence
An on-campus event held as part of the WIC Lunch Series. Survivors of domestic
violence speak out of their experience. (75 min. 1995)
Speak Out! Women
Reclaiming Their Lives
Part of Women's History Celebration. Dyann Logwood is one of the founding publishers
of HUES (Hear Us Emerging Sisters), a nationally distributed magazine for young
women of all cultures, shapes, and lifestyles. A key contributor to the anthologies
Third Wave Agenda: Being Feminist, Doing Feminism and Adios Barbie: Young Women
Write About Body Image and Identity, Logwood is a graduate student at Eastern
Michigan University and the director of their Women's Center. She provides
a perspective on the current state of women's issues and shares her own vision
of how reclaiming their power will help women reclaim their lives. She focuses
on the history of HUES magazine, body image, and the subliminal messages women
receive. (1999)
Speaking Out For
Justice
This video, created by the American Association of University Women, illustrates
the gender discrimination against women in academe. It proves that a woman
who excels in a field, who is committed to education and teaching may be prohibited
from pursuing her career because of her gender. Gender discrimination may be
the reason for the lack of women tenured professors, unequal pay among men
and women, denial of research funds, and sexual harassment. (17 min. 1995)
Spices
In the 1940s, when India was still a British colony, tax collectors called
sudebars combed the countryside with their soldiers, often demanding more
than taxes alone from frightened Indian women. Spices explores a community's
reaction to an oppressed woman's plight, as an impoverished young woman
spurns the tax collector's advances and seeks shelter in a pepper factory.
In Hindi, with English subtitles. (98 min. 1986)
Spider Woman's
Granddaughters: American Indian Women's Literature
Part of Women's History Celebration. Paula Gunn Allen, a professor of English
at UCLA and a Laguna Pueblo Lakota, has written widely on Native American traditions.
Among her many works are Grandmothers of the Light: A Medicine Woman's Sourcebook,
The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions, and
Spider Woman's Granddaughters: Traditional Tales and Contemporary Writing by
Native American Women. (90 min. 1993)
The Spirit
of Women
On an historic weekend in November of 1977, twenty thousand women and men left
their jobs and homes in cities and small towns around the country to end discrimination
against women and promote their equal rights. For four days at the first National
Women's Conference in Houston, Texas, they caucused, argued and finally hammered
out resolutions that revolutionized the women's movement. Archival footage
breathes life into heated debates over controversial issues like the equal
rights amendment, reproductive freedom, lesbian rights, sexual preference and
minority rights. Produced by Circle R Group and Media Projects, Inc., in Association
with the Women's Museum: An Institute for the Future. 55 Minutes.
Spouse Abuse:
A Global Perspective
Produced and directed by Olaniyi Arke and Sowbhagyalakshmi
Areke, this video deals with the issues of spousal abuse from
around the world. (60 min)
Spruce Run
Founder's Day Celebration
The founders of Spruce Run gather together to discuss
the reasons and motivations for creating this amazing shelter
for women and celebrate all the positive events that have happened
because of it. (180 min. 1992)
Starting Out at
UM: Nontraditional Women Students Share Their Secrets
This panel was sponsored by the Women's Resource Center and held at Talmar
Woods. It featured a panel of five nontraditional women students sharing the
challenges they have faced juggling family, work, and college. Resource staff
from UM also share resources available on campus. (Part I 60 min. 1998. Part
II was lost)
The Status of Women
at the University of Maine: Two Decades of Study, a Blueprint
for Action
An on-campus panel. Former members of past presidential task forces on the
status of women at the University reflect on the changes the University has
made and what remains to be done. Panelists: Constance Carlson and Catherine
Cutler, from the 1973 Task Force; Lea Acord, John Alexander and Sharon Jackiw,
from the 1988 Task Force. Moderated by Leslie Fleming, Dean of the College
of Arts and Humanities and Chair of the Council on Women. (90 min. 1994)
Status/Survival: Violence, Global Spaces and the Politics of Gender
Professor Radha Hegde, Associate Professor of Culture and Communication and Director of the Communication Studies Program at New York University is a scholar, teacher, and domestic violence activist. She reflects on the ways in which the racial and gendered realities of local issues can only be understood within transnational flows of migration, information technologies, and media images. Part of Women's History Celebration 2007. Co-sponsored by the Libra Foundation and the Department of Communication and Journalism. DVD and VHS format.
Stella Adler: Awake
and Dream!
She has been called a bully, a genius, an angel, but no one disputes Stella
Adler's role as one of the most charismatic and influential acting teachers
of this century. Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Warren Beatty, and Candice
Bergen are just a few of her former students featured in Awake and Dream! Charged
sequences of Adler at work with actors, combined with personal interviews,
archival stills, film footage, and recollections of colleagues and students
intimately capture this artist's life force in action. (57 min. 1989)
Step by Step: Building
a Feminist Movement, 1941-1977
*THIS VIDEO IS CURRENTLY MISSING FROM OUR COLLECTION*
Traces the gradual emergence of contemporary feminism through
the life stories of eight women who helped make it happen.
Set against the backdrop of a half-century of war, prosperity,
and reform, their testimonies weave an historical narrative
of a mass movement evolving as personal experience yields political analysis
and spurs social protest. The storytellers are factory workers, women religious,
community organizers, and store owners who struggled for justice in labor,
civil rights, and political movements of the 1940s and 1950s. In the 1960s
they joined forces, named their shared experience of discrimination "sexism" and
mobilized to end it. By the 1970s, they were leaders of national feminist organizations
and activists in the mass movement that was transforming American society.
(57 min. 1998)
Still Doing
It The Intimate Lives of Women Over 65
Flying in the face of this culture's
extreme ageism, Still Doing It explores
the lives of older women. Partnered, single, straight,
gay, black and white; nine extraordinary women,
age 67-87, express with startling honesty how they
feel about themselves, sex and love in later life
and the poignant realities of aging. Outspoken
for their generation, these women mark a sea change.
Women over 65 are already the fastest-growing segment
of the population, and when the baby boomers begin
to turn 65 in 2011, their numbers will swell. Still
Doing It follows the lives of these women
as well as this society's complex relationship
to aging with surprising and revelatory results.
A film by Deirdre Fishel. 54 minutes, color.
Stonewall, Before
*THIS VIDEO IS CURRENTLY MISSING FROM OUR COLLECTION*
The story of the sometimes horrifying public and private existences experienced
by gay and lesbian American's since the 1920's. The raiding of the Stonewall
Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village in 1969 opened the
door for others to see those who lived through an often brutal and closeted
history (87 min.)
Stonewall, After
Sequel to "Stonewall, Before", chronicles the history of lesbian
and gay life from the riots at Stonewall to the end of the century. Narrated
by Melissa Etheridge (88 min.)
Stonewall 25: The
Future is Ours!
An extremely moving documentary about the 1994 march on the United Nations
commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, viewed by many
as the birth of the gay rights movement. (57 min. 1994)
Strange Fruit
Strange Fruit explores the history and legacy of one of the most haunting and
politically significant songs in the annals of American music. While most
people assume that the anti-lynching anthem "Strange Fruit" was
written by Billie Holiday, it actually began as a poem by Abel Meeropol,
a Jewish schoolteacher and union activist from the Bronx who later set
it to music. It was only when Billie Holiday performed the song at New
York's Cafe Society and then recorded it that "Strange Fruit" began
to gain its fame. Footage of her performance of her bitter and heart-wrenching
signature song stands at the center of the film. (57 min. 2002)
"A Stronger
Soul within a Finer Frame:" Writing a Literary History
of Black Women
An on-campus lecture given by Darlene Clark Hine, John A. Hannah Professor
of History at Michigan State and the author of Black Women in White: Racial
Conflict and Cooperation in the Nursing Profession. This talk was given from
a book in progress and was part of the Multicultural Women's Studies Institute.
(90 min. 1998)
Student Activism
at the University of Maine: A Twenty Year Perspective
An on-campus panel discussion held as part of Women's History
Celebration. Student activists, past and present, share their
thoughts in a panel discussion that examines why they became
activists as students and how that activism has affected
their lives. Panelists: Sharon Barker (Class of 1971), Trish
Riley (Class of 1973), Karen Edgecomb (Class of 1974), Anne
LŽvesque (Class
of 1988) and Rebecca Sockbeson (Class of 1994). (90 min. 1994)
Supporting Gender Equality: Policies That Work
Anita Nyberg, Professor the National Institute for Working Life in Stockholm, Sweden, will talk about the policies on childcare and parental leave in Sweden, which are very different from the ones in the U.S. Part of Women's History Celebration 2007. VHS format.
Surname Viet, Given
Name Nam
Vietnamese women who feel separated from men as well as from other women by
their country's troubled political past and present talk about their experiences,
convictions, and attempts to make a difference. Filmed by Trinh Minh Ha in
Vietnamese and English with English subtitles. (108 min. 1989)
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