FOR International Women's Day 2023, Otley Women Together have teamed up with Otley Film Society to present The Camera is Ours, a compilation of short films made by women between 1935 and 1967.

Otley Women Together first formed in 2016 with a grant from Otley Town Council. They are a group of local women who organise talks, meetings, screenings, quizzes and fundraising incentives that seek to support and empower local women, but anyone is welcome to be involved or attend the events. 

Restored by the BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation, the films are all rated PG and the screening lasts for 97 minutes.

The programme begins with Marion Grierson’s lyrical and inventive Beside the Seaside (1935). In They Also Serve (1940) Ruby Grierson’s dramatised documentary is dedicated to 'the Housewives of Britain'. A public information film by Brigid ‘Budge’ Cooper, Birth-day (1945) explores the mysteries of maternity – this is the real Call the Midwife! – while Kay Mander’s powerful Homes for the People (1945) uses the then radical technique of allowing working-class women to describe their own lives. Finally, the psychedelic spirit of the 1960s is ushered in by Sarah Erulkar's Something Nice to Eat (1967), featuring Jean Shrimpton.

Thursday March 9. 7.30pm. Tickets £6.