ANALOGUE REVOLUTION: HOW FEMINIST MEDIA CHANGED THE WORLD

MARUSYA BOCIURKIW | CANADA | 2023 | 90 MIN | ENGLISH + FRENCH S.-T.EN.

Before there was #MeToo, there was Diva: A Quarterly Journal of South Asian Women, Montreal’s G.I.V. and Dykes on Mykes Radio Show and the women-led Studio D of the NFB. The list extends into the hundreds. All Canadian, all feminist, and all trailblazing media of the late 60s to mid-90s.

Canadian-Ukrainian filmmaker Marusya Bociurkiw dazzles with the sheer scope of feminist publications, collectives, and festivals she uncovers. Whether they ran for two years or twenty-two, they greatly impacted the communities they served. While battling censorship, “intense” racism, and drummed up controversies, these entities managed to document and discuss what the news would not. Contending with seismic moments such as the Polytechnique Massacre, as well as small, personal moments, like a woman spotlighting her lived-in body alongside the meteoric rise of pornography. There are painful endings here, as well as organizations bluntly facing their own shortcomings, but the overall thrust is one of hard-earned triumph. With footage of high-profile thinkers such as Audre Lorde, interviews with local queer luminaries and narration by rock icon Carole Pope, Analogue Revolution offers a stimulating look into how technology and collective action radically altered what stories feminists could cover and how.