Sunday, October 12, 7:30 PM
Cinema 21

RADICAL HARMONIES chronicles the Women's Music Cultural Movement and its evolution from a "girl with guitar" to a revolution in the roles of women in music and culture. The movement gave birth to an alternative industry that changed women and music forever.

Through festival and performance footage, interviews, and archival material, the film delves into the rich and beautiful history of women creating a cultural life based in a commitment to diversity, personal integrity, feminism and women loving women. In its heyday, during the 1970s and 80s, women's music offered a different message than mainstream musical culture. It opened doors for women musicians, producers, sound and light technicians and for new women-owned recording companies and women-oriented shows. Pioneers like Cris Williamson, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Margie Adam and Linda Tillery recall the frustrations and the triumphs of finding women sound engineers and other professionals in a completely male-dominated industry.

Although several films have highlighted aspects of women's music, this groundbreaking documentary is the first to explore the full depth and spectrum of its history and impact. RADICAL HARMONIES features such early stars of women's music as Meg Christian, Holly Near, and Mary Watkins, as well as contemporary artists Indigo Girls, Ani DiFranco, Bitch and Animal, and Melissa Ferrick. Additionally, the film highlights the whole infrastructure that made possible the recording, production, and dissemination of the work of these talented performers.

RADICAL HARMONIES movingly illustrates how the women's music movement changed the lives of countless women.

Dir. Dee Mosbacher
2002 USA 90 min Video English