This revelatory feature-length programme of shorts throws a spotlight on the female filmmakers who helped to give British documentary film a distinctive aesthetic in its nascent years.

 

Female filmmakers were at the forefront of innovation in the early years of British documentary – including Ruby Grierson and Marion Grierson, sisters to the better-known John. Marion is represented here by Beside the Seaside (1935), which uses a witty array of techniques to stylish effect, while Ruby’s dramatised wartime documentary They Also Serve (1940) is dedicated to ‘the Housewives of Britain’. The programme also includes Birth-Day (1945), Brigid ‘Budge’ Cooper and Mary Beales’s exploration of the mysteries of maternity; Kay Mander’s powerful Homes for the People (1945), which uses the then-radical technique of allowing working-class women to describe their own lives; and Sarah Erulkar’s Something Nice to Eat (1967), featuring Jean Shrimpton.

£13 Full, £11 Concessions, £6.50 Green/Blue Members 

Weekday matinees: £8 Full, £6 Concessions, £4 Green/Blue Members 

Tuesday evenings: £11, £5.50 Green/Blue Members