Girls on Film: Doc O'Clock Kicks Off at the Femme Fort

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Due to the questionable legality of the venue described in this piece, the name of the space has been changed and the last names of subjects have been withheld for their protection.

Arriving at Echo Park’s Femme Fort last Thursday night felt a lot like stumbling into a teen girl’s private slumber party. Stuffed animals sat perched in various spots around the house, streamers and christmas lights were strung festively from the walls, a gratuitous assortment of sweets was arranged on table off to the side, and young women, a few of whom were donning pajamas, were lounging casually around the living room, chatting animatedly with each other on a hodgepodge collection of couches, armchairs and folding chairs.

Despite appearances, however, these ladies had not showed up to pour over Tigerbeat and Teen Vogue. Instead, they were gathered together at this underground feminist venue to learn about radical black politics; on the agenda for the evening was a special screening of The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, the first in a series of “politically relevant documentary films” to be shown as a part of the Feminist Cinema Club’s Doc O’Clock series.

The ladies who reside at the Femme Fort–which is actually located inside a house nestled in a residential part of Echo Park–have been hosting creative get-togethers by and for women for just over a year now. Their programs in the past have included everything from feminist storytelling shows to concerts to craft nights. Given the wide scope of their programming, founder and resident Aerianne says that when her friend Grace approached her with the idea to start a feminist film screening series last August, it seemed like a natural fit.

“She pretty much came to me and was like, I want to have a cool event where women get together and watch movies about other women,” Arieanne says. “And our house is all about bringing women together to appreciate and uplift other women.”

The new Doc’O Clock series, which is a kind of spin off of that original club, was conceived by Grace’s friend and co-curator Rachel, who has a particular interest in the power of documentary film. She says she finds the genre to be very useful “as a way to kind of recharge your batteries in terms of activism and radical politics.”

“It’s sort of bringing in this media entity that can be kind of a teaching resource,” says Rachel. “I think having people watch something that’s politically relevant, and that they can, you know, bring into their own lives after seeing it, is really important.”

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975–a 2011 film comprised of found footage shot by Swedish filmmakers during the Black Power movement that has been recut and overlayed with the commentary of modern-day artists–was chosen especially to celebrate Black History month, and certainly qualifies as politically relevant. Before the screening, another Femme Fort founder and resident named Chrysanthe took the stage, reminding attendees that as they enjoy the film, they ought to keep in mind the tumultuous racial issues that our nation is still wrestling with today. She then requested a moment of silence.

"Let’s just take a moment to think about everyone who has died this year because of what color they are,” she said, bowing her head.

As the movie began, the event’s 15 or so attendees grew quickly enraptured. Not even the intrusions of the Femme Fort’s resident feline–who hopped from lap to lap throughout the entirety of the film aggressively demanding affection–could distract audience members from director Göran Olsson's captivatingly cut collage of footage featuring black power revolutionaries like Angela Davis and Stokely Carmichael.

“There were so many different layers,” said attendee Lauren afterwards. “It was like, people from our time right now talking about what happened in the 60s and the 70s, on top of the Swedish perspective of what was going on during the black revolution. I thought it was really interesting, there were so many different perspectives.”

Lauren, who has a women’s studies background and has worked in women’s health, said that feminist communities like the Femme Fort are “comfortable” and “super rad” for her.

“I think community spaces are really important,” she said. “If they’re done right, they can create a safe place for people to come and talk critically about what’s going on in the world, or to open up with what’s going on with them personally. There are so many different things that people can connect on when a community space is done right.”

This sense of community is exactly why Rachel chose to hold this film series at the Femme Fort. Much of the underground film scene in LA, she says, is very much defined by a competitive sort of “geek” culture.

“It can get kind of aggressive,” she says. “It’s like ‘Oh, you like that film? That’s a piece of trash!’ or like, ‘Oh, yeah I saw that but did you see the more obscure earlier version with the same cinematographer’ or whatever.”

The Femme Fort, however, is founded on the idea of inclusion, and its founders have worked hard to foster an environment where women and feminists of all genders can come to teach and support each other. Rachel hopes that showing these films in a safe space like this will help to both build community and to promote a progressive feminist dialogue.

“We can engage with ideas, with music, with culture in a way that’s safe, where you’re not going to be ostracized if you don’t know something,” she says. “It really is about being inclusive and sort of a group learning process.”