Productive Tensions: Teaching Films by German Women and Feminist Film Theory

Abstract

German women filmmakers and feminist film theorists have been productive in different "realms" since the 1970s. Courses focusing on the two can be productive as well. After briefly discussing the political consequences of such courses, I sketch the historical development of filmmaking by women in West Germany from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. Then I trace a shift in feminist film theory (predominantly Anglo-American, although influenced by French theory) from the 1970s to the 1980s. Finally, I discuss some comparable developments over the course of the 1980s in German films by women.