This Women’s History Month, celebrate and discover new perspectives on women’s history with POV films by and about women. Here are four ways to use POV films to start a dialogue around women’s history in your community:

  1. Screen films by women filmmakers. In celebration of its 21-year partnership with Women Make Movies (WMM) and in honor of Women’s History Month, POV is spotlighting four groundbreaking WMM films. All four documentaries are available in our lending library for select community screenings through April 10, 2016. The four films are Judith Helfand’s A Healthy Baby Girl (1997), Annie Goldson and Peter Wells’ Georgie Girl (2003), Jennifer Dworkin’s Love & Diane (2004) and Gemma Cubero and Celeste Carrasco’s Ella Es el Matador (She Is the Matador) (2009).
  2. Learn about and read with Grace Lee Boggs. Grace was a Chinese American philosopher, writer, and activist in Detroit with a thick FBI file and a surprising vision of what an American revolution can be. Rooted for 75 years in the labor, civil rights and Black Power movements, she challenges a new generation to throw off old assumptions, think creatively and redefine revolution for our times. Pick a book (or excerpt of a book) from The Essential Grace Lee Boggs Reading List, then meet Grace in American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs and discuss the reading with Grace’s philosophy in mind.
  3. Provide space for open discussion around women’s health issues. After Tiller is a deeply humanizing and probing portrait of the only four doctors in the United States still openly performing third-trimester abortions in the wake of the 2009 assassination of Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas — and in the face of intense protest from abortion opponents. POV’s After Tiller discussion guide is designed for individuals and organizations who want to use the film as a conversation-starter and made with the belief that dialogue is critical in the context of the frequently heated debate over abortion and women’s rights.
  4. Partner with a community organization that focuses on girls (e.g., a local Girls Inc. chapter) to host a screening of Girl Model and a discussion about the relationship between fashion, body image and girls’ self-esteem, and learn about the historical roots of the emphasis on women’s appearance and the people who make money from current messages about beauty. Invite a speaker from your local women’s history department to discuss labor laws and their relationship to women’s history.

Browse the lending library for a full list of available films on women and women’s history. Have an idea and looking for resources? Follow us on Twitter @povengage and tweet us your idea! How are you planning to engage your community around women’s history?

Visit our local events calendar for a full list of events happening across the country and join our Community Network to host a screening of your own!

Published by

POV Staff
POV Staff
POV (a cinema term for "point of view") is television's longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films. POV premieres 14-16 of the best, boldest and most innovative programs every year on PBS. Since 1988, POV has presented over 400 films to public television audiences across the country. POV films are known for their intimacy, their unforgettable storytelling and their timeliness, putting a human face on contemporary social issues.