Women's Screen Work in the Archives Made Visible
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Department Name: Communications, Drama and Film
Abstract
Thousands of women have contributed to shaping British filmmaking, and its vibrant history, but their creative contributions are largely absent from public knowledge of that history, because evidence documenting their work is often buried and invisible in major film-related archives and museums.
Our project will transform the understanding of women's creative contributions to the history of British filmmaking, demonstrating what can be learned by making their work easier to find in film-related archives, and more visible in film museums. We aim to open up women's film history and we understand the term 'filmmaker' inclusively, widening the term to include and value women's screen work in a range of production roles beyond the category of director or producer.
Working with the major film-related collections in the UK - the British Film Institute and the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum - our project will progress through dialogue between professional archivists, curators and film scholars. Together we will think about how the cataloguing and description of film-related collections can be modified to amplify the discoverability of women filmmakers and their work. Our team will also innovate in curation, developing exciting new ways to visualise the creativity of women filmmakers and we will spotlight untold stories of their careers in physical museum exhibitions, and in digital formats. Through interviewing we will learn from women filmmakers about how they work, using this valuable knowledge to augment catalogue descriptions, and to animate our physical and digital curation. We will also seek to better understand the context in which archivists and curators work and the challenges they face in the screen heritage sector through undertaking a series of interviews.
Our project has regional, national and international partners: the Exeter Phoenix Media Centre; the Wessex Sound and Film Archive, Winchester; the Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea, Wales; the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Margaret Herrick Library, Los Angeles, and the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Sharing our research with these partners will enable us to more fully understand the common challenges of making women's screen work visible to a range of audiences, and allow us to take our insights in the UK context to impact work in screen heritage internationally.
Our project will transform the understanding of women's creative contributions to the history of British filmmaking, demonstrating what can be learned by making their work easier to find in film-related archives, and more visible in film museums. We aim to open up women's film history and we understand the term 'filmmaker' inclusively, widening the term to include and value women's screen work in a range of production roles beyond the category of director or producer.
Working with the major film-related collections in the UK - the British Film Institute and the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum - our project will progress through dialogue between professional archivists, curators and film scholars. Together we will think about how the cataloguing and description of film-related collections can be modified to amplify the discoverability of women filmmakers and their work. Our team will also innovate in curation, developing exciting new ways to visualise the creativity of women filmmakers and we will spotlight untold stories of their careers in physical museum exhibitions, and in digital formats. Through interviewing we will learn from women filmmakers about how they work, using this valuable knowledge to augment catalogue descriptions, and to animate our physical and digital curation. We will also seek to better understand the context in which archivists and curators work and the challenges they face in the screen heritage sector through undertaking a series of interviews.
Our project has regional, national and international partners: the Exeter Phoenix Media Centre; the Wessex Sound and Film Archive, Winchester; the Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea, Wales; the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Margaret Herrick Library, Los Angeles, and the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Sharing our research with these partners will enable us to more fully understand the common challenges of making women's screen work visible to a range of audiences, and allow us to take our insights in the UK context to impact work in screen heritage internationally.
| Description | 'Script Supervisors and Their Work' Talk and Workshop at British Film Institute Woman with a Movie Camera Summit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Around 40 people attended a panel of talks about the work of women as script supervisors and the importance of their work in the British film industry. The talks were by Prof Melanie Williams (University of East Anglian) Prof Helen Hanson (Project Lead forthe AHRC 'Women's Screen Work in the Archives Made Visible Project) and Wendy Russell (Project Co-Lead for the 'Women's Screen Work in the Archives Made Visible Project'. The talks by Hanson and Russell featured pictures of archival materials from the collections of script supervisors from the British Film Institute, the talks were informed by their research for the AHRC funded project. After the talk Hanson and Russell particpated in a workshop 'Show and Tell' event, at which the audience were able to look at, and discuss, the annotated scripts of a range of female script supervisors from the British Film Institute Special Collections. The audience reported a change in their understanding of the work of women as script supervisors, and reported a development in their knowledge of how this work contributes to filmmaking more widely. The audience included professional practitioners - women working in script supervision in film and television. They reported a greater knowledge of the history of their work, and of the women who preceded them in this area of filmmaking. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://blog.bfi.org.uk/knowledge-and-collections/inside-the-archive/week-9-22-28-january-2025/ |
| Description | 'Women's Achievements in Film History' Tour of Bill Douglas Cinema Museum and Talk with Professor Helen M Hanson and Dr Phil Wickham |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A group of 15 members of a University of Exeter Alumnae group (the Exe-X South West Alumnae group) visited the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum for a special tour of the exhibits and a talk on 'Women's Achievements in Film History' - informed by the work of the AHRC funded 'Women's Screen Work in the Archives Made Visible' Project. Helen Hanson (Project Lead) and Phil Wickham (Project Curatorial Advisor) gave the tour and the talk, and outlined the research questions and aims of the project. The talk initiated discussion of how women's contributions to film history have been overlooked. In evaluative questionnaires completed after the tour and talk the audience reported an increase in their knowledge, and interest, of women's contribution to British cinema. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |