introduction

why women do(n't) make films

in the beginning there was...

evolutions

new century movements

an interesting question of gender

sponsorship & volunteers

WOMEN OF MOTION

PROGRAMMES

bibliography

links

in the beginning there was... page 1/2

Given her intense involvement in the first five years of Women In Motion, Marsha Emerman has a unique perspective on the project's history and purpose. Even Sue Maslin, who originally came up with the idea, defers to Marsha when it comes to the details of how Women In Motion developed and ran between 1990 and 1995,

"in terms of the very detailed planning, then that would have certainly been Marsha's choice". (Sue Maslin 2000)

Regarding the theory and purpose behind Women In Motion, Marsha has much the same story to tell as Sue, emphasising the feeling that there was a need to give young women access to information about choices in careers in film and television:

"...there was a sense that by encouraging young women and giving them role models and showing them that this was possible and giving them information about how you go about getting into these areas, that that could be very useful, which proved to be true. So the format I guess came out of the fact that what we wanted to do was to give them access to people who actually did work in the industry ... and then obviously show them films because this is the end result, this is why people are doing it..." (Marsha Emerman 2000)

The heart of Women In Motion, the films, provided an opportunity for Marsha to indulge in her love of film programming that she had previously done with the Foxglove Film Society. The format of the film festival portion of the event, with its time limitations and audience expectations created a challenge for her,

"...that's probably my favourite part of the job actually, I mean I love putting together interesting, diverse programs of films and thinking about what film's work well with other films or how to create, so that part of it, I always found that was a lot of fun, I liked that part of it." (Marsha Emerman 2000)