Welcome to our Hall Des Femmes!

This is our opportunity to celebrate YOU! All our collaborators, contributors, audiences, supporters, champions, pals, and – in Marlene Dietrich’s sense – besten Freunde 😘. Here are the gorgeous endorsements and encouragements we’ve been sent for our crowdfunder, from some of our faves!

From the legendary collective Barrelstout (filmmakers Sara Chambers & Bev Zalcock), to be chanted loud – like Poly Styrene!

Circling the celluloid

Club des Femmes, Club des Femmes,

Finding films to keep us buoyed

Club des Femmes, Club des Femmes,

Girrrls and queers just can’t avoid

Club des Femmes, Club des Femmes,

We will all be overjoyed

Club des Femmes.

From our beloved B. Ruby Rich, champion of queer feminist cinema & subject of our Being Ruby Rich festival!

Club des Femmes is one of the most vital, imaginative, and consequential organizations at work today in the UK. True, I am not unbiased: I was the recipient of their magnificent intervention, “Being Ruby Rich,” five years ago. And I’ve never forgotten it: one of the best experiences of my long life. In this era of greedy conglomeration and rampant individualism, it’s grand to find an organization that is operated collectively by wonderfully smart and creative individuals. May they have a long and successful existence. CdF deserves your support!

From our hero Pratibha Parmar, whose conversation with Lola Olufemi we treasure:

Club des Femmes is a place, a happening, an ongoing vibrant event that gives stimulating, exhilarating passionate life to cinema by and for women. The thoughtfulness of each of their curated programs is a rare gift to those of us who relish watching and talking about films that have been neglected and/or almost erased from the cinematic cannon. CDF brings a fresh, uplifting lens to everything they set their sights on. I loved collaborating with CDF on the program they curated with my film A Place of Rage. The essay by Irenonsen Okojie that CDF commissioned was a moving, insightful revelation as was the intergenerational conversation with Lola Olufemi. CDF are super heroes. Lets make that a t shirt please.

And from Irenosen Okojie, whose gorgeous essay on Pratibha Parmar’s A PLACE OF RAGE landed the same week she won the Caine Prize! 🥳

Club des Femmes is an excellent treasure trove full of boundless delights celebrating the importance of women’s cinema and queer voices.

From our fave event collaborators, Andrew Woodyatt at the Rio Cinema…

Club Des Femmes are one of our favourite programming partners, they always come up with amazing films, passionate contextual materials, great guests, and they know everyone! They are also a joy to work with, and work so hard to find new audiences to educate and entertain. Please support them so we can continue to collaborate and bring you fabulous events.

Catharine Des Forges from the Independent Cinema Office…

Cdf are our best femme friends – a wonderful, warm and collaborative collective who we love to work with. We had an amazing and joyous summer of feminism working on the Revolt, She Said tour which brought female joy to audiences across the UK.  We admire their passion, integrity, expertise and enthusiasm and are very glad they are in the world of cinema – always introducing us to new work and thinking in the most welcoming way.

and Melanie Iredale at Bird’s Eye View

I’ve got Club Des Femmes to thank for many a queer feminist film discovery over the years, and it’s exciting to think that through this new, accessible website even more people will be able to unearth even more overlooked cinematic treasure, and access commissioned creative responses to them. CDF have done such incredible work in building a community for beautiful, radical and important films, and to be able to develop, engage and rally that community online – accessibly and sustainably – feels like change I want to be a part of.

And from one of the many researchers and teachers we’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with, Dr. Rachel Johnson at the University of Leeds