Women Film Pioneers Project
@wfpproject.bsky.social
A digital publication & resource that advances research on silent-era women filmmakers. Published by the Columbia University Libraries.
https://wfpp.columbia.edu/
https://wfpp.columbia.edu/
Reposted by Women Film Pioneers Project
New issue alert!! I was chuffed to write this short piece on Ossi Oswalda for FILMBLATT -- *many thanks* to Philipp Stiasny for translating to German. 🎞️
www.filmblatt.de/2025/11/22/f...
Lots of gems in here by @mharrabin.bsky.social et al + gorgeous images courtesy of @blomamsterdam.bsky.social!
www.filmblatt.de/2025/11/22/f...
Lots of gems in here by @mharrabin.bsky.social et al + gorgeous images courtesy of @blomamsterdam.bsky.social!
November 24, 2025 at 4:21 PM
New issue alert!! I was chuffed to write this short piece on Ossi Oswalda for FILMBLATT -- *many thanks* to Philipp Stiasny for translating to German. 🎞️
www.filmblatt.de/2025/11/22/f...
Lots of gems in here by @mharrabin.bsky.social et al + gorgeous images courtesy of @blomamsterdam.bsky.social!
www.filmblatt.de/2025/11/22/f...
Lots of gems in here by @mharrabin.bsky.social et al + gorgeous images courtesy of @blomamsterdam.bsky.social!
Reposted by Women Film Pioneers Project
Found by a student of my colleague Eli Boonin-Vail’s at SUNY Albany:
New Rochelle, NY: theater taken over by Thanhouser star Fan Bourke in 1916. She says: “I think that a woman is as well qualified, if not better qualified, to run a neighborhood motion picture theatre, than a man."
New Rochelle, NY: theater taken over by Thanhouser star Fan Bourke in 1916. She says: “I think that a woman is as well qualified, if not better qualified, to run a neighborhood motion picture theatre, than a man."
November 24, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Found by a student of my colleague Eli Boonin-Vail’s at SUNY Albany:
New Rochelle, NY: theater taken over by Thanhouser star Fan Bourke in 1916. She says: “I think that a woman is as well qualified, if not better qualified, to run a neighborhood motion picture theatre, than a man."
New Rochelle, NY: theater taken over by Thanhouser star Fan Bourke in 1916. She says: “I think that a woman is as well qualified, if not better qualified, to run a neighborhood motion picture theatre, than a man."
Reposted by Women Film Pioneers Project
Advance copies of this beaut arrived today! Congrats to author @aurspiers.bsky.social!! Can’t wait for you all to read it.
www.ucpress.edu/books/archiv...
www.ucpress.edu/books/archiv...
Archiving the Past by Aurore Spiers - Paper
Scholarship is a powerful tool for changing how people think, plan, and govern. By giving voice to bright minds and bold ideas, we seek to foster understanding and drive progressive change.
www.ucpress.edu
November 24, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Advance copies of this beaut arrived today! Congrats to author @aurspiers.bsky.social!! Can’t wait for you all to read it.
www.ucpress.edu/books/archiv...
www.ucpress.edu/books/archiv...
Reposted by Women Film Pioneers Project
Horror ppl should watch Hell-Bound Train (James & Eloyce Gist, 1930) on @criterionchannl.bsky.social. The Gists were Black evangelists & amateur filmmakers who used their films in their sermons. This film is a catalogue of sins. Even w/ no budget, it has surprisingly haunting moments throughout.
November 6, 2025 at 5:04 AM
Horror ppl should watch Hell-Bound Train (James & Eloyce Gist, 1930) on @criterionchannl.bsky.social. The Gists were Black evangelists & amateur filmmakers who used their films in their sermons. This film is a catalogue of sins. Even w/ no budget, it has surprisingly haunting moments throughout.
New to WFPP: Richard Abel on film reviewer and writer Tildy Winks!
The woman using this catchy nom de plume, unfortunately, remains unknown, unlike earlier "girl reporters" or concurrent film reviewers.
The woman using this catchy nom de plume, unfortunately, remains unknown, unlike earlier "girl reporters" or concurrent film reviewers.
Tildy Winks – Women Film Pioneers Project
Women Film Pioneers Project is a scholarly resource exploring women’s global involvement at all levels of film production during the silent film era.
wfpp.columbia.edu
November 3, 2025 at 4:34 PM
New to WFPP: Richard Abel on film reviewer and writer Tildy Winks!
The woman using this catchy nom de plume, unfortunately, remains unknown, unlike earlier "girl reporters" or concurrent film reviewers.
The woman using this catchy nom de plume, unfortunately, remains unknown, unlike earlier "girl reporters" or concurrent film reviewers.
Reposted by Women Film Pioneers Project
🎬Our interview series "Data Practices, Provenance, and Categorizations in Film History" is out now! 👉 doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
Our #DAVIF project partners discuss how data practices and institutional and theoretical frameworks shape film-historical #metadata.
#digitalfilmhistory #culturalheritage
Our #DAVIF project partners discuss how data practices and institutional and theoretical frameworks shape film-historical #metadata.
#digitalfilmhistory #culturalheritage
Data Practices, Provenance, and Categorizations in Film History. Interviews with Scholars, Archivists, and Project Managers
The interviews in this collection were conducted by the BMFTR research group “Aesthetics of Access: Visualizing Research Data on Women in Film History” (DAVIF) (2021-2026) at the Institute of Media St...
doi.org
October 21, 2025 at 2:30 PM
🎬Our interview series "Data Practices, Provenance, and Categorizations in Film History" is out now! 👉 doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
Our #DAVIF project partners discuss how data practices and institutional and theoretical frameworks shape film-historical #metadata.
#digitalfilmhistory #culturalheritage
Our #DAVIF project partners discuss how data practices and institutional and theoretical frameworks shape film-historical #metadata.
#digitalfilmhistory #culturalheritage
Reposted by Women Film Pioneers Project
A Virgin's Sacrifice (1922) is now streaming on the NFPF site with new music by Michael Mortilla. Starring Corinne Griffith, this snowbound tale was preserved photochemically by @eastmanmuseum.bsky.social and is available for home viewing for the first time.
www.filmpreservation.org/preserved-fi...
www.filmpreservation.org/preserved-fi...
October 15, 2025 at 5:57 PM
A Virgin's Sacrifice (1922) is now streaming on the NFPF site with new music by Michael Mortilla. Starring Corinne Griffith, this snowbound tale was preserved photochemically by @eastmanmuseum.bsky.social and is available for home viewing for the first time.
www.filmpreservation.org/preserved-fi...
www.filmpreservation.org/preserved-fi...
Reposted by Women Film Pioneers Project
I find it v difficult to put into words how honored and lucky i feel to have edited this issue on feminist historical methods, to have had so many important pieces of writing and thinking entrusted to me over these last few years. 1/
online.ucpress.edu/fmh/issue/11/4
online.ucpress.edu/fmh/issue/11/4
Volume 11 Issue 4 | Feminist Media Histories | University of California Press
online.ucpress.edu
October 30, 2025 at 1:15 AM
I find it v difficult to put into words how honored and lucky i feel to have edited this issue on feminist historical methods, to have had so many important pieces of writing and thinking entrusted to me over these last few years. 1/
online.ucpress.edu/fmh/issue/11/4
online.ucpress.edu/fmh/issue/11/4
Reposted by Women Film Pioneers Project
Our Fall 2025 issue "Notes on Historical Methods" is now live! In her introduction, Katherine Groo reflects on the voices of historical writing, the long history of feminist methods, and the guiding concept and structure of the "note" itself.
Open access for a limited time:
doi.org/10.1525/fmh....
Open access for a limited time:
doi.org/10.1525/fmh....
October 30, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Our Fall 2025 issue "Notes on Historical Methods" is now live! In her introduction, Katherine Groo reflects on the voices of historical writing, the long history of feminist methods, and the guiding concept and structure of the "note" itself.
Open access for a limited time:
doi.org/10.1525/fmh....
Open access for a limited time:
doi.org/10.1525/fmh....
Reposted by Women Film Pioneers Project
Must-see melodrama alert. Next Sunday, one of the best films in the BFI Melodrama season, the silent 1925 STELLA DALLAS, screens in NFT1 with the incredible orchestral score by Stephen Horne – who also introduces the screening. whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/defau...
Buy cinema tickets for Stella Dallas + intro by composer Stephen Horne | BFI Southbank
2025-11-02T15:00:00.000, NFT1
whatson.bfi.org.uk
October 26, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Must-see melodrama alert. Next Sunday, one of the best films in the BFI Melodrama season, the silent 1925 STELLA DALLAS, screens in NFT1 with the incredible orchestral score by Stephen Horne – who also introduces the screening. whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/defau...
Reposted by Women Film Pioneers Project
Exciting new documentary entering circulation! ELVIRA NOTARI: BEYOND SILENCE about Italy’s first woman director + journey to bring her work back to life. Trailer (w/ English subs) here. First learned of Notari via Giuliana Bruno’s classic monograph STREETWALKING ON A RUINED MAP
vimeo.com/1125241996
vimeo.com/1125241996
October 23, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Exciting new documentary entering circulation! ELVIRA NOTARI: BEYOND SILENCE about Italy’s first woman director + journey to bring her work back to life. Trailer (w/ English subs) here. First learned of Notari via Giuliana Bruno’s classic monograph STREETWALKING ON A RUINED MAP
vimeo.com/1125241996
vimeo.com/1125241996
𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐖𝐅𝐏𝐏: Bart G. Moens's overview essay "Casting Shadows: Women’s Work at the Projection Department of Maison de la Bonne Presse (1895-1920)."
Casting Shadows: Women’s Work at the Projection Department of Maison de la Bonne Presse (1895-1920) – Women Film Pioneers Project
Women Film Pioneers Project is a scholarly resource exploring women’s global involvement at all levels of film production during the silent film era.
wfpp.columbia.edu
October 1, 2025 at 3:41 PM
𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐖𝐅𝐏𝐏: Bart G. Moens's overview essay "Casting Shadows: Women’s Work at the Projection Department of Maison de la Bonne Presse (1895-1920)."
Happy Birthday to Danish actress/stuntwoman/screenwriter Emilie Sannom!
Emilie Sannom – Women Film Pioneers Project
Women Film Pioneers Project is a scholarly resource exploring women’s global involvement at all levels of film production during the silent film era.
wfpp.columbia.edu
September 29, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Happy Birthday to Danish actress/stuntwoman/screenwriter Emilie Sannom!
"For Lillian Chester, who wrote under the name Mrs. George Randolph Chester, the experience of 'collaboration' guided not only her encounter with the Hollywood industry, but almost every facet of her professional and personal life." wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-...
#BOTD
#BOTD
Mrs. George Randolph Chester – Women Film Pioneers Project
Women Film Pioneers Project is a scholarly resource exploring women’s global involvement at all levels of film production during the silent film era.
wfpp.columbia.edu
September 29, 2025 at 2:23 PM
"For Lillian Chester, who wrote under the name Mrs. George Randolph Chester, the experience of 'collaboration' guided not only her encounter with the Hollywood industry, but almost every facet of her professional and personal life." wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-...
#BOTD
#BOTD
"Acting in hundreds of early comic films, writing six and directing ten of these, Ruth Stonehouse was involved in film production from a very early date." wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-... #BOTD
Ruth Stonehouse – Women Film Pioneers Project
Women Film Pioneers Project is a scholarly resource exploring women’s global involvement at all levels of film production during the silent film era.
wfpp.columbia.edu
September 28, 2025 at 4:29 PM
"Acting in hundreds of early comic films, writing six and directing ten of these, Ruth Stonehouse was involved in film production from a very early date." wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-... #BOTD
With her sister, Adriana Ehlers (b. Sept. 28, 1894) worked in film labs, sold projection equipment, shot documentaries and more.
Adriana and Dolores Ehlers – Women Film Pioneers Project
Women Film Pioneers Project is a scholarly resource exploring women’s global involvement at all levels of film production during the silent film era.
wfpp.columbia.edu
September 28, 2025 at 2:23 PM
With her sister, Adriana Ehlers (b. Sept. 28, 1894) worked in film labs, sold projection equipment, shot documentaries and more.
Reposted by Women Film Pioneers Project
We actively are seeking hosts for future Women and the Silent Screen conferences, including WSS 2027!
A helpful potential host info sheet & the application form can be found here: www.wfhi.org/about-wss.
If you are interested in hosting WSS 2027, please submit a proposal by 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓.
A helpful potential host info sheet & the application form can be found here: www.wfhi.org/about-wss.
If you are interested in hosting WSS 2027, please submit a proposal by 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓.
September 27, 2025 at 3:48 PM
We actively are seeking hosts for future Women and the Silent Screen conferences, including WSS 2027!
A helpful potential host info sheet & the application form can be found here: www.wfhi.org/about-wss.
If you are interested in hosting WSS 2027, please submit a proposal by 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓.
A helpful potential host info sheet & the application form can be found here: www.wfhi.org/about-wss.
If you are interested in hosting WSS 2027, please submit a proposal by 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓.
Beatrice Maude Tildesley "was one of very few Australian intellectuals to write seriously on the cinema and can lay claim to being the country’s foremost independent film critic and commentator for a decade beginning in the mid-1920s."
Beatrice Maude Tildesley – Women Film Pioneers Project
Women Film Pioneers Project is a scholarly resource exploring women’s global involvement at all levels of film production during the silent film era.
wfpp.columbia.edu
September 27, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Beatrice Maude Tildesley "was one of very few Australian intellectuals to write seriously on the cinema and can lay claim to being the country’s foremost independent film critic and commentator for a decade beginning in the mid-1920s."
New to WFPP: Mercedes Álvarez San Román on animator, film actress, and trick specialist Julienne Mathieu!
Julienne Mathieu – Women Film Pioneers Project
Women Film Pioneers Project is a scholarly resource exploring women’s global involvement at all levels of film production during the silent film era.
wfpp.columbia.edu
September 26, 2025 at 3:06 PM
New to WFPP: Mercedes Álvarez San Román on animator, film actress, and trick specialist Julienne Mathieu!
"Josephine Rector’s career in cinema as a scenario writer and actress is closely associated with Essanay." wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-... #BOTD
Josephine Rector – Women Film Pioneers Project
Women Film Pioneers Project is a scholarly resource exploring women’s global involvement at all levels of film production during the silent film era.
wfpp.columbia.edu
September 25, 2025 at 3:29 AM
"Josephine Rector’s career in cinema as a scenario writer and actress is closely associated with Essanay." wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-... #BOTD
#Bornonthisday in 1914: filmmaker Esther Eng!
Esther Eng – Women Film Pioneers Project
Women Film Pioneers Project is a scholarly resource exploring women’s global involvement at all levels of film production during the silent film era.
wfpp.columbia.edu
September 24, 2025 at 3:29 PM
#Bornonthisday in 1914: filmmaker Esther Eng!
Happy Birthday to Italian screenwriter Renée Deliot!
Renée Deliot – Women Film Pioneers Project
Women Film Pioneers Project is a scholarly resource exploring women’s global involvement at all levels of film production during the silent film era.
wfpp.columbia.edu
September 20, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Happy Birthday to Italian screenwriter Renée Deliot!
Reposted by Women Film Pioneers Project
Word is out!!! The curators of Cinema's First Nasty Women -- Elif Kaynakci, @hennefem.bsky.social, @laurah.bsky.social -- will co-deliver the UCLA Copley on Silent Cinema & Costume Design at the Giornate del Cinema Muto this year. 👒☔🌪️
📍 Thursday 9th October, Teatro Verdi in Pordenone
Save the date!
📍 Thursday 9th October, Teatro Verdi in Pordenone
Save the date!
September 20, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Word is out!!! The curators of Cinema's First Nasty Women -- Elif Kaynakci, @hennefem.bsky.social, @laurah.bsky.social -- will co-deliver the UCLA Copley on Silent Cinema & Costume Design at the Giornate del Cinema Muto this year. 👒☔🌪️
📍 Thursday 9th October, Teatro Verdi in Pordenone
Save the date!
📍 Thursday 9th October, Teatro Verdi in Pordenone
Save the date!
Reposted by Women Film Pioneers Project
Iris Barry on Radio 4! silentlondon.co.uk/2025/09/18/i...
Iris Barry on Radio 4
Where would we be without Iris Barry? Where would all the films be, more to the point? Iris Barry was a pioneering film critic and film preservationist whose life is every bit as interesting as the…
silentlondon.co.uk
September 18, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Iris Barry on Radio 4! silentlondon.co.uk/2025/09/18/i...
Reposted by Women Film Pioneers Project
We've reactivated WFHI's listserv!!
You can join here:
lists.simplelists.com/WFHINetwork/...
We look forward to exchanging feminist film historiographical research (and research questions), relevant scholarly and archival news and events, resources, and more with you all!
You can join here:
lists.simplelists.com/WFHINetwork/...
We look forward to exchanging feminist film historiographical research (and research questions), relevant scholarly and archival news and events, resources, and more with you all!
September 19, 2025 at 4:51 PM
We've reactivated WFHI's listserv!!
You can join here:
lists.simplelists.com/WFHINetwork/...
We look forward to exchanging feminist film historiographical research (and research questions), relevant scholarly and archival news and events, resources, and more with you all!
You can join here:
lists.simplelists.com/WFHINetwork/...
We look forward to exchanging feminist film historiographical research (and research questions), relevant scholarly and archival news and events, resources, and more with you all!