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 | 'From Script to Screen' Workshop for 9-12 year olds - Being Human Festival 15 November, 2025 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | 20 participants (10 children aged 9-12, and 10 carers, aged 30-55 accompanying them), attended a workshop which used creative exercises to disseminate some early findings of women's creative work in British cinema from the project's research into collections of the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum. The workshop introduced the participants to creative roles in filmmaking, and used an historical case study of a film made in 1953 to explore the work of Betty Box, a female film producer in the British film industry. The creative approach - such as encouraging participants to use crafting materials to make posters, and to play with costumes - fostered the participants to explore and understand different filmmaking roles behind the scenes, and the participants reported engagement and a change in their knowledge. Feedback Included: What did you like about today's session? • It was informative not only for children but for adults too • I enjoyed designing my poster • Doing make up on people • The making of the posters • The mermaid tail and fish hats • Crafting activities and link to film • Everything • The different range of tasks linked to different jobs within film • The different activities that you could do What did you learn today? • I learnt about how scripts are written • About the different types of jobs in movies and what goes into them • Being a fish and mermaid is fun • Different parts of film production • Thinking about film, inspiring, thank you! • Loved mapping out the different scenes and thinking about the set design • How modern movies are today compared to films from the 1950s |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| 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 |
| Description | Participation in Futures Festival, Public Engagement Event, Exeter 12th October 2025 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Members of the project team (Helen Hanson, Katie Crosson and Phil Wickham) designed a stall for the Futures Festival, a regional public engagement event, to share and disseminate early findings from the project's research into women's screen work in the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum collections. The team designed a timeline of women's achievements in anglophone film history, and created materials for participants to learn about the team's findings and to interact with the timeline by adding one of our discoveries to the timeline of achievement. During the day the team had conversations about research with 89 participants, and 22 of them interacted with our timeline. The team had a very positive response to the activities. Feedback included: Feedback included the following comments: [What I learned] 1)"I learnt about the amount of scripts written that have never been discovered or widely known" 2)"Women have been central since the beginnings of cinema" 3)"I learnt about forgotten women and it makes me feel better that there is finally recognition." 4)"I learnt that Hazel Adair made a film in 1955" 5)"It inspired me to learn more about women in film" [What I Liked] 1)"A super exciting project, very interesting to learn about and I can't wait to see what happens with it" 2)"Thinking about the role of women in film that I self admittedly likely don't consider enough." 3)"Wow! Really eye opening, will visit the cinema museum soon" 4)"I liked the 'Key' and the timeline visuals" [Other comments] 1)"Very interesting info share and interactive activities. Thanks for the inspiration of your project too!" 2)"Passionate about nurturing a school for women to become directors" 3)"It's been great to learn about these inspiring women, thank you!" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | Presentation/Talk 'In Frame' Q&A Gurinder Chadha and Professor Shelley Cobb, 30th January, 2026 January, 2026 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 125 people attended a discussion event, 'In Frame: Q&A Filmmaker Gurinder Chadha with Professor Shelley Cobb' (Project Co-Lead) at the BFI Southbank, National Film Theatre. At this public event, which was part of the 'Beyond the Frame: Women's Filmmakers and Their Archives season (see below), Cobb engaged Chadha in a discussion of her career and the creative process of her filmmaking by showing selected archival materials from Chadha's archive which is in the BFI Screencraft Collections, and is a case study for our project. This event foregrounded the project's research into how women filmmakers relate to the documents that they create during filmmaking and then donate to archives. In Chadha's case, the discussion with Cobb opened up insights into how Chadha navigates her position as a diasporic Punjabi-British filmmaker and her creation of work which is both popular and political. It also prompted questions and discussions from the audience afterwards about Chadha's popular films, and her creative process. Project Co-Lead Wendy Russell programmed this event, in a season of 6 events on the theme of 'Beyond the Frame: Women Filmmakers and their Archives' at the BFI Southbank's National Film Theatre, during January 2026. The season created events featuring the work and archives of filmmakers Tina Gharavi and Gurinder Chadha. The whole season of films was co-curated by Russell, in partnership with Grace Johnston, and demonstrated partnership between the AHRC-funded 'Women's Screen Work in Archives Made Visible' project (Russell), and the Heritage Lottery-Funded 'Our Screen Heritage' Project (Johnston). https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=beyond-the-frame&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id= |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2026 |
| URL | https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=in-frame-gu... |
| Description | Presentation/Talk 'In Frame' Q&A Tina Gharavi and Professor Linda Ruth Williams, 23rd January, 2026 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 134 people attended a discussion event, 'In Frame: Q&A Filmmaker Tina Gharavi with Professor Linda Ruth Williams' (Project Co-Lead) at the BFI Southbank, National Film Theatre. At this public event, which was part of the 'Beyond the Frame: Women's Filmmakers and Their Archives season (see below), Williams engaged Gharavi in a discussion of career and the creative process of her filmmaking by showing selected archival materials from Gharavi's papers. This event foregrounded the project's research into how women filmmakers relate to the documents that they create during filmmaking and then donate to archives. It also sparked questions and discussions from the audience afterwards about Gharavi's creative process. Gharavi herself stated that her perspective on her career was reshaped by the process of revisiting elements of her archive: "The season-and especially the In Frame conversation, a wonderfully rich conversation with Linda Williams -made me think about my archive not as a static repository of past work, but as a living record of process, risk, and negotiation. Seeing clips and hearing them discussed in that context reminded me how much of my practice has been about navigating between cultures, institutions, and communities-and how the archive holds the traces of those negotiations. What struck me most was how the material resonates differently when reframed publicly; moments I once experienced as provisional or even precarious now feel ... relevant and situated. The season encouraged me to think about the archive as something dialogic-activated through conversation-rather than simply preserved. It also made me more conscious of the responsibility of stewardship: what gets kept, what gets contextualised, and how access might shape future interpretations. It was genuinely moving to see the work held in that way." Project Co-Lead Wendy Russell programmed this event, in a season of 6 events on the theme of 'Beyond the Frame: Women Filmmakers and their Archives' at the BFI Southbank's National Film Theatre, during January 2026. The season created events featuring the work and archives of filmmakers Tina Gharavi and Gurinder Chadha. The whole season of films was co-curated by Russell, in partnership with Grace Johnston, and demonstrated partnership between the AHRC-funded 'Women's Screen Work in Archives Made Visible' project (Russell), and the Heritage Lottery-Funded 'Our Screen Heritage' Project (Johnston). https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=beyond-the-frame&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id= |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2026 |
| URL | https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=in-frame-ti... |
| Description | Presentation/Talk - Wendy Russell 'Women Filmmakers and their Archives: Tina Gharavi's Notebooks' 24th January, 2026 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 50 people attended a talk by Project Co-Lead Wendy Russell as she gave a talk on 'Women Filmmakers and Their Archives: Tina Gharavi's Notebooks' at the BFI Southbank National Film Theatre. The talk was part of the Woman With a Movie Camera Summit 2026. Russell's talk present some early findings from her work with Tina Gharavi's notebooks, part of Gharavi's collection which was donated to the British Film Institute and is being catalogued as part of our funded project. Russell presented some of Gharavi's richly annotated notebooks and talked about how these can give insights into the creative processes for women filmmakers. The presentation fostered discussions with the audience, and linked to a 'Show And Tell Workshop with Women Filmmakers Archives' which Russell organised on the same day. Project Co-Lead Wendy Russell programmed this event, in a season of 6 events on the theme of 'Beyond the Frame: Women Filmmakers and their Archives' at the BFI Southbank's National Film Theatre, during January 2026. The season created events featuring the work and archives of filmmakers Tina Gharavi and Gurinder Chadha. The whole season of films was co-curated by Russell, in partnership with Grace Johnston, and demonstrated partnership between the AHRC-funded 'Women's Screen Work in Archives Made Visible' project (Russell), and the Heritage Lottery-Funded 'Our Screen Heritage' Project (Johnston). https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=beyond-the-frame&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id= |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2026 |
| URL | https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=woman-with-... |
| Description | Presentation/Talk - Wendy Russell introduction to 'I Am Nasrine' Film Screening 23rd January, 2026 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Project Co-Lead Wendy Russell programmed and introduced I Am Nasrine, in a season of 6 events on the theme of 'Beyond the Frame: Women Filmmakers and their Archives' at the BFI Southbank's National Film Theatre. The whole season of films was co-curated by Russell, in partnership with Grace Johnston, and demonstrated partnership between the AHRC-funded 'Women's Screen Work in Archives Made Visible' project (Russell), and the Heritage Lottery-Funded 'Our Screen Heritage' Project (Johnston). https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=beyond-the-frame&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id= I Am Nasrine was directed by Tina Gharavi, and Russell's introduction contextualised the film in relation to archival materials from Gharavi's which are being catalogued as part of our project's research. Russell's presentation highlighted some of the project's early findings about how creative processes are documented by women filmmakers, and how Gharavi's work navigates politics and identity from her position as an Iranian-British filmmaker. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2026 |
| URL | https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=i-am-nesrin... |
| Description | Presentation: Helen Hanson at the BFI's 'Thinking Through Craft: Working With Visual Arts Collections and Film Documentation Archives 6th February, 2026 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 100 invited professionals, who work in archives and collections, attended the British Film Institute's event 'Thinking Through Craft: Working with Visual Arts Collections and Film Documentation Archives', on 6th February, 2026. The one-day event gathered professional working in a range of roles in archives and collections to present and discuss their working practices and to foster dialogue on common experiences and challenges. Helen Hanson's talk presented early insights from project research into the documentation of women's screen work labour, drawing on a case study from the BFI's Screencraft collections - the continuity notes of script supervisor Penny Eyles for her work on Gosford Park. Hanson illustrated how the documentation relates not only to Eyles labour, but allows us to see the labour of other women working on production as well. The talk fostered strong engagement and discussion from the audience, and insights across scholarly research with archives, and the work of archivists and curators. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2026 |
| Description | Workshop & Museum Tour: 'Women Filmmakers' Achievements and Oscar's Season Helen Hanson and Phil Wickham Exe-X South West Alumnae Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 11 people (all women aged 40-70 years old) attended the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum for a tour of 'women filmmaker's achievements' with project curatorial specialist Phil Wickham and a workshop with Project Lead Helen Hanson. The attendees were members of the Exe-X South West Exeter University Women's Alumnae group. Hanson gave a short talk about the work of the project, and some history of how women's filmmaking in a range of roles has featured in the history of the Oscar awards. The attendees then undertook an interactive workshop with Hanson, looking at archival materials from the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum collection which help uncover previously neglected women filmmakers, such as screenwriters. Hanson worked with the attendees to help them discover more about the filmmakers and their work, and then the attendees added their discoveries to a 'timeline of women's achievements in cinema.' The attendees were strongly engaged and interested, and they reported that they learned new insights into film history. After the session one of the attendees, who works programming public events and film screenings for Libraries Unlimited in Devon, contact Hanson to invite her to collaborate on future events at Libraries. Feedback included: What I learned: 'Surprising facts about early cinema and women's importance' 'That I should watch films [produced by] Betty Box' 'Fascinating to learn about the lives of some amazing women' 'The many names of women filmmakers' 'About the women behind the men' What I liked: 'The fun, informal approach' 'the timeline was very effective' 'the project is doing important work 'learning new names, it is good to know these women will not be forgotten, their contribution is amazing' Other Comments: 'Makes me want to visit the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum and bring friends' 'Fascinating' 'A fine experience, thank you' 'Thank you, the session was very illuminating, I will be back to museum' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2026 |
| Description | Workshop - Wendy Russell and Jessica Boyall - Show and Tell: Women Filmmakers's Archives, 24th January, 2026 |
| 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 | 31 people attended a 'Show and Tell: Women Filmmakers' Archives' workshop event at the BFI Southbank, National Film Theatre, London. Project Co-Lead Wendy Russell and Project Postdoctoral Researcher Dr Jessica Boyall took part in a workshop (also including Grace Johnston, BFI Screencraft Digital Archivist from the 'Our Screen Heritage' Project) which featured archival sources from the collections of Tina Gharavi and Gurinder Chadha, from the BFI's Screencraft Collections. Both these collections are being researched as case studies on our funded project. Russell and Boyall chose items from each collection which fostered interest and engagement from public audiences. Russell showed some examples of Tina Gharavi's notebooks, and Boyall showed some storyboards from Gurinder Chadha's Bend it Like Beckham (2002), and an annotated continuity script from Bride and Prejudice (2004). These rarely seen documents gave audience an insight into the creative processes of these filmmakers, and fostered strong interest from audiences, who reported the power of seeing the annotations and work in progress which offered a different view than the finished film. Project Co-Lead Wendy Russell programmed this event, in a season of 6 events on the theme of 'Beyond the Frame: Women Filmmakers and their Archives' at the BFI Southbank's National Film Theatre, during January 2026. The season created events featuring the work and archives of filmmakers Tina Gharavi and Gurinder Chadha. The whole season of films was co-curated by Russell, in partnership with Grace Johnston, and demonstrated partnership between the AHRC-funded 'Women's Screen Work in Archives Made Visible' project (Russell), and the Heritage Lottery-Funded 'Our Screen Heritage' Project (Johnston). https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=beyond-the-frame&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id= |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2026 |
| URL | https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=woman-with-... |