ABSTRACT
This introduction clarifies the main aims of this compilation. The first is to highlight the archives of The Independent Film & Video Monthly, a print publication from 1976 to 2006 and afterwards an online publication, The Independent at www.independent-magazine.org. The second, and more emphatic intention with this compilation is to draw attention to the important work of female independent filmmakers. In moving toward greater equity, Meek argues that, as scholars, we must de-emphasize “auteur” filmmaking, as traditionally represented by a collection of feature films. Many of the women featured in this compilation have had what one might call “eclectic” film careers spanning genres, lengths, and forms—documentary, narrative, “experimental,” features, shorts, television, and web series—however, these decisions were often the result of industry discrimination, rather than choice. She articulates how female filmmakers, therefore, not only have faced intense discrimination throughout their careers, but they also then continue to meet such obstacles in how their work is received and remembered—even by scholars—and she calls for a conscious change.
