The festive season is over, and the festival season is beginning. One of the first events to take place in this year's calendar is Handbags and Hardware; a mini-festival of women's film, video and digital art, organised by Cinenova. It is a surprising fact that, whilst there are 17 regular festivals of women's film in Europe, none of them take place in the UK. The last similar event to take place in London was the Cinematrix festival, which was held twice - in 1997 and 1998. The Cine-Women festival, held annually in Norwich, has apparently ceased to exist.

So why is this the case? Undoubtedly, a relative lack of funding and institutional support for women's film is a factor. The LFVDA has continued to provide financial support for Cinenova over many years. However, recently the BFI's interest in women and the future of cinematic exhibition seems to focus only upon their role as mothers who take their children to the cinema (BFI Strategy Consultation Document, June 1999). The feminist movement produced an upsurge in women's film and video practice and organisation in the 1970s and early 1980s. This was counter-acted by the 'post-feminist' backlash of the late 1980s and 1990s, which saw off not only large numbers of women's film organisations, but also much of the serious critical debates about women's film practice - including issues of representation and the participation of women in the wider film industry.

Feminism may seem to be dead, but discrimination is still very much in evidence. There may be more women now working in film and video than in the 1970s (not difficult), but they are still hugely under-represented. For example, of the films screened at the 1999 London Film Festival, only 12% of feature films were directed by women (and still only 40% of the short-films).

However, it would appear that the wheel is beginning to turn, and the voices of a new feminism are beginning to be raised again. The East End of London has often been the locus for innovations in independent film - particularly Roman Road, which was the site of the newly-formed Four Corners workshop in the 1970s, and of the women's film and video distributor, Circles, in the 1980s. It has the possibility to do so again - with the re-launch of Cinenova - the distributor of feminist film, video and digital media.

Cinenova is re-launching itself not only as a distributor, but as an interactive provider of information about women's time-based works - and aims to initiate a site for renewed discussion and debate about the future of feminist and gender-based art practice. The initial launch of their ambitious plans take place at their festival, which features works from some of the most innovative contemporary women filmmakers in documentary and artists film practice, in particular Kim Longinotto and Sandra Lahire. It will also be premiering a number of short works by new filmmakers, such as Gill Addison's Charlottenburg (1999), alongside works by more established film-makers such as Sarah Pucill's Cast (1999), and Bev Zalcock's hallucinogenic Marajuana Moments (1999).

A glance at these works reveals the diversity of contemporary feminist practice and the many different experiences that women face, particularly in relation to aspects of identity such as race, sexuality and gender-identification...

Links: www.cinenova.org.uk

Cine corner
The upturn in activity among feminist film-makers is also evidenced by the emergence of a new society dedicated to screening women's film and video. Screenings will take place at Four Corners, the site of some of the first ever screenings of exclusively women's work to take place in London, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.