Swedish Film Feminism Between Grassroots Movements and Cultural Policies

Drawing on rich archival materials, this open access book offers the first in-depth historical account of the feminist film movement in Sweden in the 1970s. Ingrid Ryberg makes an important contribution to feminist film studies by providing detailed case studies of crucial contexts of production, distribution and reception; key films and directors including Mai Zetterling's The Girls; and elaborate reassessments of central debates in feminist film theory. By unearthing this national film history, Swedish Film Feminism brings new insights into the politics and aesthetics of the feminist film movement as well as revealing how they were shaped by funding opportunities and interactions with state agencies. Ryberg's central argument is that women's film culture in Sweden nurtured a state feminist image of accomplished gender equality, at the same time that opportunities for women filmmakers in practice remained scarce. She makes a topical and substantial contribution to contemporary widespread debates about women's filmmaking, the politics of representation, and feminist media histories both in and outside academia. The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by The University of Gothenburg.