Dorothy Davenport

From Friday, July 20 through Thursday, July 26, BAMcinématek presents Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers in collaboration with Kino Lorber and The Library of Congress. A follow-up to its award-winning Pioneers of African-American Cinema, this collection was produced for Kino Lorber by Bret Wood and curated by historian Shelley Stamp. The series presents a vast array of new 2K restorations, focusing primarily on women directors of the silent-era American cinema. As was frequently the case, women directors remained uncredited or were co-credited as director, even though for all intents and purposes, they were the de-facto directors and primary creative forces of the film. “Women played an extraordinary role in early filmmaking, but this history has been largely forgotten,” says series curator Shelley Stamp, 'I'm so thrilled that these films have been restored and re-scored so that contemporary audiences will have a chance to see what female filmmakers were up to 100 years ago.” Stamp will be present to introduce the first four programs in the series.