First and foremost, huge thanks to my editor Anna Coatman. Political Animals was her idea, and she has been an incredible ally, sounding board and reader through the process. Thanks also to Lisa Goodrum and the whole team at I.B.Tauris for producing a book rich in visual pleasure!
Asta Bradshaw and Rebekah Polding were crucial kickstarters, while Vicky Ainley, Sarah Crewe, Daniel Justice, Shelagh Rowan-Legg, S. F. Said and Preti Taneja were generous and attentive first readers; all of them offered incredible support throughout. Frances Morgan has been a tireless copy editor (no hyphen!), a reflective reader and brilliant company during the final stages.
The book has its roots in a decade of writing about feminist films and filmmakers for, in historical (and then alphabetical) order: at Plan B, S. F. Said, Nick Bradshaw and Frances Morgan; at Vertigo and Artesian, Gareth Evans; at Sight & Sound, James Bell, Nick Bradshaw, Kieron Corless, Nick James and Isabel Stevens; at Second Run DVD, Mehelli Modi; at cléo, Kiva Reardon, Julia Cooper and Mallory Andrews; and at The F-Word, Ania Ostrowska, who has been a passionate cheerleader with a critical ear.
Several of the ideas in this book were initially elicited, and subsequently developed, by academic editors Pam Hirsch (Cinema of the Swimming Pool), Alisa Lebow (Cinema of Me), and Anat Pick (Screening Nature). I’m particularly thankful that Anna Backman Rogers and Laura Mulvey invited me to tea to check we weren’t writing the same book, and subsequently to contribute to the excellent Feminisms; it’s been very special to have the two projects coming to fruition concurrently.
Rhidian Davis and David Edgar (BFI), Stuart Comer (Tate Modern), Gareth Evans (Whitechapel Gallery), Lucy Orr (Hackney Picturehouse), Adam Roberts (À nos amours), Chloë Roddick (Ambulante Michoacán), and Garth Twa (Trash Cannes) all extended invitations to developing these ideas through presentations and panels, as did academics Elinor Cleghorn (Ruskin School of Art), Kit Fryatt (Mater Dei), Holly Pester (Birkbeck), Anat Pick (Queen Mary University London), Sarah Turner (University of Kent), Emma Wilson (University of Cambridge), and the organisers of Screen 2014, who all improved my ideas through dialogue and cake.
Film Production at the London College of Communication and Film Studies at Queen Mary University London were warm homes while I was writing. Thanks especially at QM to my mentors Lucy Bolton and Guy Westwell for their collegial kindness, and to my co-convenors Jenny Chamarette, Janet Harbord and Alasdair King for their support and tolerance. Thanks also to my alternate, global feminist film & media studies ‘staff room’ on Facebook and Twitter: as well as many people already mentioned, gratitude goes out to Charlotte Richardson Andrews, Miriam Bale, Louis Bayman, Jane Bradley, Markie Burnhope, Ashley Clark, Corinn Columpar, Jemma Desai, Ariel Dougherty, Beti Ellerson, Marian Evans, Catherine Grant, Laura Hall, Simran Hans, Kate Hardie, Natalie Harrower, May Lui, Domino Renee Perez, Rebecca Porteous, Karin Ramsay, Elizabeth Treadwell, Tom de Ville, Thirza Wakefield and Patricia White.
The internet has also offered an unprecedented ability to connect with filmmakers, who have been incredibly generous with their time, thoughts and material. Especial thanks to Sandra Alland, Sini Anderson, Amma Asante, Maja Borg, Michelle Citron, Cheryl Dunye, Mia Engberg, Beth Freeman, Tina Gharavi, Barbara Hammer, Alexandra Hidalgo, Hope Dickson Leach, Alisa Lebow, Kim Longinotto, Leena Manimekalai, Carol Morley, Pratibha Parmar, Debs Paterson, Sally Potter, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Erica Tremblay, Penny Woolcock, Jacqueline Wright, Campbell X and Andrea Luka Zimmerman.
Finally, this book is emerges from, and for, a collaborative community of feminist film curation. It has been thrilling to work with Bath Film Festival (Holly Tarquini), BFI Flare (Jay Bernard), Bluestocking Film Series (Kate Kaminski) Directed by Women (Barbara Ann O’Leary), London Feminist Film Festival (Anna Read), FRINGE! (Amelia Abraham), Punto de Vista (Elena Oroz), and above all with Club des Femmes. Selina Robertson, Alex Thiele, Sarah Wood and Campbell X are a unique queer feminist force. Curation has been key to the development of an intersectional feminist cinema and to this book. May it continue to equality – and beyond!