The women’s rights movement might feel like a lesson from a textbook for some Ohio State students, but this week, some students will close the book and turn to the movie screen for a look at the reality of what their grandmothers and mothers might have faced just decades ago.
“Growing Up Female,” a documentary that follows six women and six girls from southwest Ohio, is scheduled to show at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Wexner Center for the Arts’ Film/Video Theater.
The movie peers into the lives of its 12 subjects to understand and question their motives and goals in the workplace and at home.
“I felt the women’s movement was crucial and central to any kind of change in America,” said Julia Reichert, one of the documentary’s filmmakers. “I felt a movie like that needed to be made.”
Reichert and Jim Klein, the filmmakers from Yellow Springs, Ohio, are scheduled to present the documentary and discuss the makings of the film with viewers. The film was first released in 1971 and was added to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry in December.
“This is a big deal. They may chose only 50 films a year out of all the films that have ever been made,” Klein said. “It’s mostly ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Gone with the Wind’ and ‘Casablanca,’ so it really is humbling.”
Dave Filipi, director of film/video for the Wexner Center, said they decided to show “Growing Up Female” because of its recent award, and because of Reichert and Klein’s mission to expose students to their work.
“We’ve shown a lot of their work in the past. They are some of Ohio’s most accomplished filmmakers and they are passionate about passing on their knowledge and experience to young and aspiring filmmakers,” Filipi said in an email. “The program as a whole really captures a very specific moment in history during the early stages of the women’s liberation movement.”
Reichert and Klein will also introduce two short films they produced that were released in 1970 and 1968, “Make Out” and “Up Against the Wall Miss America,” respectively. Both pertain to the women’s rights movement and are scheduled to play Thursday.
Tickets are $5 for members, students and senior citizens, and $7 for the general public, and can be purchased prior to the show online at the Wexner Center website.
