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Comprised of rare amateur travelogues shot by women between the 1920s to 1950s, Terra Femme is a live documentary by Courtney Stephens that weaves together questions of female authorship, cinematic excavation and the Western gaze.
Filmmaker Courtney Stephens comes to Bertha DocHouse to give a live documentary-performance of this unearthed archive footage – an echo of the way these films might have been projected and narrated nearly a hundred years ago when they were shot.
The films present a new type of traveller: no longer a male seeker of conquests, she might be a divorcee on a tour of biblical gardens, or a widow on a cruise to the North Pole. Using their footage of expeditions and exploration, Stephens creates a contemplation of past worlds, and the place of women within the landscapes of cinema and colonialism.
Courtney Stephens will perform live narration over the film in the tradition of early travelogue presentations.