Swedish film feminism

The purpose of the sabbatical is to complete the manuscript for the monograph Swedish Film Feminism: Between Grassroots Movements and Cultural Policies, for which a book contract with Bloomsbury Academic has been secured.

The book explores the feminist film culture in Sweden in the 1970s and 80s and is the first in-depth study of this dynamic, but hitherto largely neglected, film culture.

Drawing from rich archival materials and focusing on interaction with funding and state agencies, the book not only fills a gap in film history, but brings an innovative approach to international feminist film studies.

The six chapters, approx. 65 000 words in sum, provide not only careful case studies of crucial contexts of production, distribution and reception, as well as of films and directors, but also elaborate reassessments of central debates in feminist film theory.

Locating the overlooked Swedish case in relation to dominant Anglo-American accounts and established histories of origin opens up for crucial reconsiderations of what counts as essential events, concepts and conflicts in transnational film feminism.

The book also offers crucial historical contextualization of the current revival of the film culture and the Swedish Film Institute’s famous gender equality program. The work is at an advanced stage.

The leave will enable the writing and completion of the introductory and concluding chapters as well as revisions and adaptations of the four already written or drafted chapters.