This international conference will bring together researchers in women’s film history, archivists, collections managers and contemporary women practitioners. It will explore current developments in researching women’s participation in film production, distribution, exhibition, criticism and film-going in different parts of the world and in all periods.  It will ask what the discovery and documentation of women’s past activity in and around cinema implies for the writing of film history in general and will consider how the history of post-1970s women's filmmaking is to be resourced and developed. The conference will seek to address issues such as:

•                women’s film historiography: filling gaps in existing film history or changing film history?

•                impact of gender-oriented research methods & sources for the histories of male and female workers

•                gender in the archives, catalogues and collections

•                impact of women on cinema as audiences, campaigners, fans

•                relationship between feminism, women’s and gender histories

•                crossing the silent/sound history divide

•                women’s film history after second wave feminism

•                national/international/transnational connections and interactions

•                creation of canons, exhibition & programming practices, curricula and teaching

•                relation of women’s film history then and women’s film practice now

The Conference will also report on and seek feedback on three Workshops that will have preceded it in order to involve wider participation in developing the future of the Network.

A call for papers will follow more detailed planning in early June. In the meantime, for more information about the Network please visit the Network wiki at http://wfi.wikidot.com and the Conference Development pages where you can post any suggestions and comments via linked page headings.

We are grateful for AHRC recognition of this neglected area of women’s history and to the Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies, University of Sunderland for giving this award an institutional home.