ABSTRACT BY GINA DELLAGIACOMA

In my lecture, I look at the cinematic staging and creation of private and domestic spaces in feminist films from Switzerland (1970–95). I am interested in how the filmmakers not only criticised the binary spatial order (‘the private is political’) but also produced a more complex understanding of gendered spaces. I therefore pay particular attention to how kitchens or living rooms also become visible as potential spaces for feminist emancipation and collectivity. In my presentation I consider a range of fictional and semi-fictional films such as Il valore della donna è il suo silenzio (Gertrud Pinkus, 1980) or Noch führen die Wege an der Angst vorbei (Margrit Bürer/Kristin Wirthensohn, 1988). Furthermore, I look beyond the screen and engage with historical sources to reflect on the role of private spaces such as kitchens and living rooms in early feminist filmmakers’ networks and organisations in Switzerland.