The years between the First and the Second World War were tumultuous ones in European cinema. Filmmakers in Western Europe faced not only aesthetic and technological transformations but also economic and political cataclysms that were pronounced by the late 1920s, intensifying in the 1930s. This era of challenges had a profound effect on pioneering women filmmakers, not only well-known directors like Germaine Dulac, Leni Riefenstahl, Elvira Notari and Adrienne Solser, but also on the many female film directors who have been forgotten, who never came to the fore or who were pushed into other areas of film production.The present essays shed light on this understudied albeit important area, illustrating the impact technological transformation and rising fascism had on these women working in the European film industries.Concurrently, this book also illustrates the mentoring and networking strategies these women developed to help each other succeed in the industry and to strengthen women’s autonomy on and off screen.
Elisabeth-Christine Muelsch is Professor of French and Chair of Film Studies at Angelo State University. She is co-editor of Ecrive les hommes (2012). Carla Mereu Keating is a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the University of Bristol.
Figures and IllustrationsAcknowledgementsContributorsIntroduction: Women’s Film Careers in Interwar EuropeElisabeth-Christine Muelsch and Carla Mereu KeatingPart I. Working Above and Below-the-Line1. (Un)Sound Ladies: Movie Workers in Interwar ItalyCarla Mereu Keating2. The Women Behind the Screen: Depictions in the French PressMyriam JuanPart II. Counter Narrative Cinema and Animation in Paris3. Solange Bussi – A Forgotten Film DirectorElisabeth-Christine Muelsch4. Colette’s Cinematic Sisterhood: Feminism and Mentorship in La Vagabonde from Novel to ScreenDezirae Shukla5. Vilma Kiss –Vilma von Kish – Wilma de Quiche (1885-1943): A Hungarian Animation Artist in ParisAnna KopócsyPart III. Championing Czechoslovak Avantgarde and Flemish Fiction Sound Films6. Zet Molas: A Czech Female Film Director with a French SpiritTomáš Hubáček 7. Edith Kiel, Founding Mother of Flemish Fiction Sound FilmsRoel Vande Winkel and Dirk van EngelandPart IV. Making Film in Weimar Germany and Norway8. Bauhaus Women and FilmKristina Jaspers9. With Kinamo and Courage: Ella Bergmann-Michel and the Medium of FilmAnna Katherina Heizmann10. Ms. Film Producer: Aud Egede-NissenMaria Fosheim Lund11. A Tenacious Gaze. Women’s and Film StudiesLucia Cardone