JULY PLAYLIST
Outrage to Impact: Revolutions That Changed Society
In America, we have long seen public protests create pathways, bringing outrage into change. Whether it be voting, racial equity, or abortion and women’s rights, a loud and sustained public effort to reimagine citizen’s rights has, at several moments in history, brought freedom of speech to the cultural forefront.
This month’s films highlight moments where political upset gave rise to action, and integral figures emerged to shape resistance into change. Led by figures like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Angela Davis, these movements urged critical political and social evolution by challenging the norms.
Solia Cates is the Editor-In-Chief of WomenDo, a graduate of Yale University’s Film and Media studies program, and a writer and actress based in Los Angeles.
Selma
Directed by Ava DuVernay
1965, Narrative Feature
After the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination and legally desegregated the United States, prejudice continued to pervade the American South, and hindered African-Americans’ ability to vote. Selma looks at the fight for voting rights in the1965 South, through the lens of Martin Luther King, Jr. who stood at the forefront of the movement. In 128 minutes, DuVernay crafts an intricate portrait of the icon, fighting through the height of political and social unrest with an unwavering purpose and a steady stride, through in the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
Iron Jawed Angels
Directed by Katja von Garnier
1913, Narrative Feature
Another film cataloging the fight for voting rights, Iron Jawed Angels examines the 1920s women’s suffrage movement and tells the story of the women on its front lines. Garnier’s re-imagining of the suffragettes portrays them as modern, crackling women sustained by a need for equality -- or, at the very least, voting equality. It reminds us of the long battle that led to women’s voting rights, and the organized efforts that allowed this landmark human rights law to come to pass.
Black Panthers
Directed by Agnes Varda
1968, Documentary Short
Shot in Oakland in 1968, this film captures the Black Panther Party’s efforts to free the party’s cofounder, Huey P. Newton, after his imprisonment. Through footage of the protests, and interviews with Newton himself, Varda draws out a unique and empathetic look at the Black Panthers’ fight for freedom.
Angela: Portrait of a Revolutionary
Directed by Eliza Hittman
2020, Narrative Feature
A civil rights icon, a Black Panther, a writer, intellectual, and professor at an esteemed university, an outspoken critic of the rampant racism and sexism in American government, Angela Davis posed a threat to the conservative, white American establishment of the 1960s and 1970s. While studying under Angela Davis at UCLA in the year following her public affiliation with the communist party, French filmmaker Yolanda DuLart turned her camera on her professor, to capture the spectacle of Davis’ work and increasing notoriety. Now a historic chronicle of Ms. Davis’ influence, the film uses newsreels and original footage of her life as she taught at the school and spoke to large crowds of devoted students. Much of the film focuses on her life in 1969, the year Davis was fired by the University of California Board of Regents.
Woman at War
Directed by Benedikt Erlingsson
2018, Narrative Feature
In this Icelandic-Ukranian comedy-drama, 50-year-old Halla is a passionate environmental activist emblazoned to wage war against the global aluminum conglomerate taking over her lush mother country. We meet her as she shoots arrows at electric wires at a powerline in the attempt to take it down, one effort in her pursuit to disrupt her Icelandic homeland from the environmentally-devastating corporation. Once Halla learns that her application to adopt a child has been approved, however, she is caught between her insurrectionist quest, and her desire for motherhood. This quirky, surrealist comedy finds a middle-aged climate warrior at the crux of her one-woman revolution, and questions how she will learn to cope with an oppressive world in the face of motherhood.