Film Details

Two early documentaries by Julia Reichert and Jim Klein. Growing Up Female is the very first feature-length film of the modern women's movement. Controversial in its day, the movie examines female socialization through the lives of six women, ages four to 35, and the people and forces that shape them—from teachers and counselors to advertising, music, and marriage. Widely used by consciousness-raising groups to empower women and explain feminism to a skeptical society, the film now offers viewers a chance to measure our progress since 1971. Selected for the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry in 2011. “I wish every high school kid in America could see this film.” –Susan Sontag. Methadone documents how heroin addiction was typically addressed during the early 1970s. Set in Dayton, the film demonstrates that social services designed to help often neutralized those they served—especially when social problems were treated as mental illness or personal weakness. Cleveland revival premiere. DCP. Total 112 min.