‘Her Century’ screenings coming to your home
The National Library of Scotland is premiering the hugely successful Her Century – a collection of archive film about women in 20th-century Scotland – on Monday 20 July, straight to your home.
A partnership with Film Hub Scotland, Her Century toured cinemas throughout the country in the lead-up to lockdown, and was scheduled to be the main attraction at the Library’s George IV Bridge building over the summer. Now, it will be available to view online for two months only.
Monday’s premiere will be introduced by Library’s Dr Emily Munro, who curated the film. She said:
“The films selected for this programme are as wide-ranging as their subject matter. They include educational and promotional material, amateur footage and propaganda. The women represented here include crofters, campaigners, factory workers, psychologists, mothers, pilots and educators. Seen together, they show great variation in women’s roles over time.
“The last century was a time of rapid social change in which ‘a woman’s place’ was contested and redefined. I wanted to steer away from the ‘monumental’ moments of suffrage and the two world wars, drawing instead on the variety of ways in which ordinary women and girls have been represented on film, as scholars, workers, mothers and friends.”
Nicola Kettlewood, Film Hub Scotland Manager, said:
“After the success of the Her Century tour at our member venues and festivals across Scotland, we’re delighted to be working with Dr Emily Munro and the Library team to bring the film and the zine to new audiences online via the dedicated mini-site. The appetite for curated archive programming is very much alive in the digital space, and making Her Century accessible for free will help to continue the conversation, both within Scotland and further afield.”
Women filmmakers feature strongly in Her Century, including professional documentarians such as Sarah Erulkar, Budge Cooper and Jenny Gilbertson as well as amateur footage from Grace Williamson.
The online premiere of Her Century: Scottish women on screen takes place on Monday 20 July at 5pm via the Library’s Youtube channel. The premiere will also feature an opportunity to put questions to film’s curator, Dr Emily Munro, using live-chat for the duration of the screening. Following the premiere, the film will be made freely available for an exclusive two-month period accompanied by a new dedicated Her Century website.
Contact Information
Notes to editors
Film Hub Scotland
Film Hub Scotland is part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI. www.filmhubscotland.com / @filmhubscotland
The National Library of Scotland
The National Library of Scotland is a major European research library and one of the world’s leading centres for the study of Scotland and the Scots – an information treasure trove for Scotland’s knowledge, history and culture.
The Library’s collections are of world-class importance. Key areas include rare books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, music, moving images, official publications, science and technology, and modern and foreign collections.
The Library holds more than 30 million physical items dating back over 1000 years in addition to a growing library of digital material. Every week the Library collects around 5,000 new items. Most of these are received in terms of Legal Deposit legislation, allowing the Library to claim a copy of everything published in the UK and Ireland (everything from children’s books to science journals, election leaflets to magazines and websites). www.nls.uk / @natlibscot / facebook