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A WOMAN'S PLACE SERIES
Three Videos


After the success of their pioneering series DEVELOPING STORIES SERIES I AND SERIES II, Television Trust for the Environment - TVE - and the One World Group of Broadcasters have joined forces once more to give women directors from developing countries the opportunity to present their own perspective on the status and condition of women.

RISING ABOVE: THE WOMEN OF VIETNAM

50 minutes/Grades 10-12, College, Adult
An October Films Production with TVE
A video by Heiny Srour

In the long years of war against France and the United States, Vietnamese women fought alongside men as equals. Women such as Mrs. Binh, who negotiated with Henry Kissinger at the Paris Peace Accords, and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Dinh, commander of the Vietcong forces, reached the highest positions of power. But 20 years after the signing of the peace agreement, the revival of Confucianism and the spread of market forces are conspiring to relegate women once again to the role of second class citizens.

This film looks at what happened to Mrs. Binh and Mrs. Dinh and three other women since the war.

Kim Lai was 17 in 1965 when she captured an American pilot twice her size and the newspaper photograph of them was circulated around the world. Vo Thi Thang was also the subject of a famous picture. Sentenced to 20 years in jail by the South Vietnamese government for her part in the Tet offensive, her unrepentant smile was captured by photographers. Dr. Duong Quynh Hoa, Shadow Minister of Health in the provisional government, became Deputy Minister of Health for two years after the war until she became disillusioned.

Vietnamese women overcame seemingly insurmountable odds in wartime. Their peacetime challenge is to rise above centuries of obedience and self-denial to build their own and their country's future.

VHS ISBN: 1-56029-660-7
© 1995 TVE

HALF THE SKY: THE WOMEN OF THE JIANG FAMILY

50 minutes/Grades 10-12, College, Adult
A video made in China by China Global Graphics, Ltd.
An October Films Production with TVE
A video by Sun Shuyun

No women in any country have seen their lives change so radically as Chinese women. "Women are 'half the sky'," declared Mao Zedong, "and they are absolutely the equal of men."

Equal they may have been, but by regimentation, to the point of the virtual abolition of womanhood and femininity. Today economic reforms have given young women a degree of independence unknown to any previous generation. For the first time they are conscious and outspoken about their role and position in society, and they make their demands known.

This program explores these changes within the lives of four generations of women in the Jiang family over the last 50 years in China, from the grandmother who was bought by the Jiang family at age 14 to be grandfather's second wife, to her 24-year-old great-granddaughter who works as a sales assistant at the Pierre Cardin boutique in Beijing.

"Built around a series of interviews, images of daily life, special family occasions and archive film, Half the Sky focuses on the women's individual experiences of marriage, children, work, love, and self-esteem."     Moving Pictures Bulletin

"The times they are, indeed, a-changing, as this beautifully shot impressionistic overview of several generations of women in the Jiang family shows...Recommended."     Video Librarian

Subject Areas: Women's Rights, Women's Studies, China

VHS ISBN: 1-56029-658-5
© 1995 TVE

SCIENCE FOR SURVIVAL

50 minutes/Grades 10-12, College, Adult
An International Broadcasting Trust Production
A video by Ani King-Underwood
Produced with the support of Television Trust for the Environment

Activist and ecologist Vandana Shiva is the leader of a people's movement in India that opposes "reductionist Western Science". She argues that the failure of the Green Revolution was due to the fact that women's knowledge of traditional seed varieties was ignored. Shiva is devoting her scientific knowledge to proving that local farming methods, which recognize diversity and complexity, are vital to the survival of the Indian ecosystem. Millions of women, with their managerial, economic and scientific skills, are the backbone of India's rural economy.

The film also looks at the work of Dr. Sharadini Dahanukar who has set out to prove that Ayurvedic medicine, which relies heavily on women's knowledge of plants and herbs, has scientific validity.

Finally the film looks at silk technology from the ultra-modern biotech laboratories where the cocoons are bred, through the ancient process of silk reeling, to the bustling auction halls. Prabha Shekar argues that, if done sensitively, the fusion of modern science with indigenous knowledge can provide a powerful way forward for poor communities.

Subject Areas: Women's Rights, Women's Studies, Agriculture, Environment

VHS ISBN: 1-56029-661-5
© 1995 TVE

Series Purchase $395     Rental $135   
Individual Purchase $250     Rental $75   (includes public performance rights)
Activist discounts and K-12 site licenses, please inquire.

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