Militancy, feminism and cinema: The case of Grupo Feminista Miércoles

Abstract

This article contextualizes and characterizes the Venezuelan feminist film collective Grupo Feminista Miércoles. Founded by Venezuelan Josefina Acevedo and Italians Franca Donda and Ambretta Marrosu, among others, Grupo Feminista Miércoles (1979–88) produced the documentary Yo, tú, Ismaelina (‘I, you, Ismaelina’) () and the videos Argelia Laya, por ejemplo (‘Argelia Laya, for example’) (), Eumelia Hernández, calle arriba, calle abajo (‘Eumelia Hernández, up and down the street’) () and Una del montón (‘One of the bunch’) (), and participated in several activities organized by the Venezuelan women’s movement. On the one hand, this article pays attention to both the cinematic and political contexts that allowed the emergence of this collective, with a focus on the influence that Italian cinematic and feminist ideas had in these contexts. On the other hand, it also provides formal analysis of the collective’s filmography and explores how feminist ideas and praxis are deployed in its films. The overall aim of this article is to restore the contributions of Grupo Feminista Miércoles to both Latin American political cinema and transnational feminist cinema.