Director Elizabeth Sankey explores the connections between postpartum mental health and the portrayal of witches in Western society and popular culture. Sankey intertwines her personal experiences with historical and cinematic footage—while creating a new coven of women to reclaim their stories. 

In a life that has spanned 92 creative years, ruth weiss is one of the most influential writers of the Beat Generation. Born to a Jewish family during the rise of Nazism, as a 10-year-old refugee, she escaped to the United States. ruth became a Jazz troubadour exemplifying the zeitgeist of Chicago, New Orleans, and San Francisco. In the 1950s, she opened up and organized the first poetry readings in North Beach cafes and bars, giving a platform to many poets.

Explores the life and times of cultural anthropologist Esther Newton. The film tells her story of awakening to gay life in the 1950’s, the women’s liberation movement and lesbian-feminism, drag culture, and forging a butch identity that for her is in conversation with trans-masculinity. Keenly attuned to the societal forces that shaped her life, Esther guides us through an anthropology of herself, a study influenced by her love for a sport – competitive dog agility – that pairs her aging butch body with her beloved dog teammate on an obstacle course that is constantly changing. 

Former Vogue model April Ashley has been immortalized as a trailblazer for embracing her transgender identity, while model, muse, and celebrated performer Amanda Lear has obfuscated her past and denied a trans identity as she continues to define her own legacy. Providing historical context to ongoing conversations about gender identity and representation, ENIGMA brings a deeply personal and humanizing lens to two resilient and defiant icons.

When she was a young lawyer, Kholoud Al-Faqih walked into the office of Palestine’s Chief Justice and announced she wanted to join the bench. He laughed at her. But just a few years later, Kholoud became the first woman judge to be appointed to the Middle East’s Shari’a (Islamic law) courts. THE JUDGE offers a unique portrait of Judge Kholoud — her brave journey as a lawyer, her tireless fight for justice for women, and her drop-in visits with clients, friends, and family. 

Sitdowns, scabs, goon squads, unemployment, hunger marches, red baiting and finally the energetic birth of the CIO: the 1930s were a landmark period for the American labor movement. UNION MAIDS is the story of three women who lived that history and make it come alive today. It was the first film of its kind–an oral history, using a wealth of footage from the National Archives to chronicle the fight to form industrial unions as seen through the eyes of rank and file women. 

On the front line of the Syrian war, 30-year-old Commander Arian guides a female battalion towards the city of Kobane to release its people from the grip of ISIS in Alba Sotorra's empowering tale of emancipation and freedom.

 With unprecedented access to the commander and her troops, including harrowing scenes of Arian's slow recovery from multiple bullet wounds, Sotorra brilliantly crafts an enthralling portrait of a woman on a mission. 

For Spaniards—and for the world—nothing has expressed their country’s traditionally rigid gender roles more powerfully than the image of the male matador. So sacred was the bullfighter’s masculinity to Spanish identity that a 1908 law barred women from the sport. 

ELLA ES EL MATADOR (She is the Matador) reveals the surprising history of the women who made such a law necessary, and offers fascinating profiles of two female matadors currently in the arena, the acclaimed Maripaz Vega and neophyte Eva Florencia. 

At this crucial time when women physicians and nurses are contributing significantly to our community’s health, this documentary provides a look at the challenging and illuminating history of 19th century women doctors. Hidden in American history, all-women’s medical schools began to appear in the mid-19th century long before women had the right to vote or own property.

One of the best trans films you’ve likely never heard of, Antonio Giménez-Rico’s landmark 1983 documentary explores the lives and loves of a group of six transgender women living in Madrid in the years following Spain’s transition to democracy. But more than that, it’s a loving portrait of a culture finally emerging from the shadows after being hidden for far too long. Antonio's portrait of these women gave them the freedom to portray their own stories with their own friends & family, but in a stylized scripted narrative framework with gorgeous cinematography by Teo Escamilla. The stories of Eva, Nacha, Loren, Josette, Reneé, & Tamara are a vital testament to just how far we’ve come—and how far there’s still left to go.

Domestic. Shop girl. Waitress. Cook. Those were the jobs for women in the 1930's. Suddenly the U.S. entry into World War II created an unprecedented demand for new workers. Rosie the Riveter was born — the symbol of working women during World War II. 

The story is told by the women themselves — five former “Rosies” who movingly recall their histories during the war. Their testimony is interwoven with rare archival recruitment films, stills, posters, ads and music from the period which contrast their experiences with the popular legend and mythology of Rosie the Riveter.