ABSTRACT
During the long 1970s significant aspects of Canadian and Swedish political life was oriented around their relations with neighboring superpowers—the United States and the Soviet Union. Both countries were shaped by Cold War and post-1968 protests and movements toward leftist, pacifist, and environmentalist policies, along with the construction of a far-reaching welfare state that included public support for filmmaking, including activist documentary. This chapter examines the work of two women directors who address their country’s relationship to the international military-industrial complex in different and complementary ways. Both center their commitment to pacifism and environmentalism on women’s agency in shaping counter-narratives to the hegemonic, masculinist mainstream. Maj Wechselmann’s Viggen 37: Ett militärplans historia (“Viggen 37: The History of a Military Airplane,” Sweden, 1972) and Terre Nash’s If You Love This Planet (Canada, 1982) caused significant public debate and have remained cultural and socio-political touchpoints ever since. These two documentaries demonstrate the links that connected filmmaking practice between Sweden and Canada in sometimes oblique but relevant ways, including in the context of women’s role in shaping the geopolitical agenda.
