Feminist cinema debuts at 5th Ave.

In celebration of International Women’s Day on Thursday, March 8, 5th Avenue Cinema is showing two shorter pieces: Left On Pearl and Genesis 3:16.

Left On Pearl is a 2017 documentary about the 888 Memorial Drive occupation, a week-and-change long movement where hundreds of Bostonian women occupied buildings owned by Harvard University back in 1971. Genesis 3:16 is a 1971 documentary about the state of feminism and local movements of the ‘70s era. Although I haven’t watched Left On Pearl, but I have seen Genesis 3:16 and I highly recommend you spend the under-90 minutes to watch both.

Pearl contains footage from Genesis featuring a performance from the Witches Guerrilla Theatre Group, which is the only known footage of the performance troupe today. From a filmmaking standpoint, the documentary is fascinating because of its classic 35mm shooting ratio. Maureen McCue, the director of Genesis, managed to leave a record low amount of footage out of the final cut. If you’re feeling the need to be educated about a relatively unknown moment in feminist history, I highly recommend students check out both films over the weekend at the 5th Avenue Cinema.