Ariel Dougherty

“Sweet Bananas traces the contrasting lives of some working class and upper class women, who end up all getting along.” -- E. Ann Kaplan

Through intimate interviews, provocative art, and rare, historical film and video footage, this feature documentary reveals how art addressing political consequences of discrimination and violence, the Feminist Art Revolution radically transformed the art and culture of our times.

The first all-women Western. Set in a fictional 1850, the movie is about one woman's attempt to recruit others for an all-women commune. "..a Warholesque frolic" -- Daphne Davis, Women's Wear Daily " Some great comments about women, men and the pros and cons of living with either." -- Women & Film: International Festival, 1973 "A group of wonderfully idiosyncratic women improvise characters close to their real lives and fantasy lives. Funny, ambling, off-handedly lyrical, the film....is above all excellent for sharing warm feelings in a group." -- Ms. magazine

A narrative constructed in the wishful-filmmaking, or “fanumentary”, genre. Rural women artists unite via CR to support one another’s work and to showcase more women’s art publicly available in their community. A refreshing weave that combines animation, nature shots and live action into a story of actualization.

Vandana Shiva discusses biodiversity at the World Women’s Congress for a Healthy Planet in Miami, Nov. 1991 in advance of the Earth Summit. In a follow up workshop women devise policy. Wangari Maathai reads the final platform. At a concluding press conference, Peggy Antrobus underscores that the real issues were discussed by women in Miami, and will not be put forth in Rio.

Initially created for a new alternative distribution network, Miss Video 4U, modeled after the 1990's Joanie4Jackie video chain letter, IMAGE BREAKER explores the history of the Big Miss Moviola/Joanie4Jackie series to take viewers further back to the mid 1970s when another, less well known, feminist video exchange took place, International VIDEOLETTERS. Then 27 feminist media groups participated in a two year bi-monthly video exchange. After giving a brief introduction through clips and art work, this less than ten minute video quickly explores 13 other 1970s feminist media that are MISSING / UNKNOWN / UNSHOWN. Spunky and quirky, the work could evolve into a Feminist/Gender and Cinema Studies teaching tool and put some of this germinal feminist work back on the cinema history map.

Time: the 1970’s. Place: New York City. This dramatized essay explores how women feel about verbal harassment by men on the street. What do they think? What do they want to do?

Citizen and police body cam footage intertwine in a controversial electric meter change-out and are mixed with the audio of two citizen appeals before the City Commission on $50 monthly charges, now the highest in the county for non-smart meters. The struggle continues.