The opening event of the symposium Guerrilla Television: The Revolutions of Early Independent Video, which took place in the University of Chicago’s Film Studies Center April 19-21, 2024. This screening on Friday, April 19, features clips and short videos from the 1970s, with introductions by the individual artists, scholars, and curators.
Compared to film, video was cheap and easy to learn. And unlike the film and TV industries, there was no entrenched hierarchy that kept out women, queer people, and BIPOC. Video quickly became central to a growing network of feminist videomakers and collectives dedicated to encouraging, sharing, and celebrating the work of women. This panel focuses on women video producers and the culture of festivals, videoletters, and video exchanges that arose during the 1970s. Panelists: Eleanor Boyer, videomaker and director, Loop YWCA’s Women’s Video Project, Chicago; Deirdre Boyle, professor emerita of media studies at The New School and author of Subject to Change: Guerrilla Television Revisited; Tracy Fitz and Barbara Jabaily, videomakers, founding members of L.O.V.E. (Lesbians Organized for Video Experience), now known as LoveTapesCollective; Julie Gustafson, videomaker and co-director of Global Village; Susan Milano, videomaker and co-founder of the Women’s Video Festival.