Can the discovery of an ancient film made by an extinct tribe of Stone Age women help modern women reclaim their strength and autonomy in a world now dominated by men? That’s the thrust of Cave Girls, a 1981 super 8 film by Kiki Smith and Ellen Cooper that struck such a responsive chord that it quickly evolved into a collaboration of 35 women.
This week’s Gallery 98 newsletter features promotional stills and preparatory notes from this legendary DIY film that was screened only once before being left “officially unfinished” in 1984. Moving from the present to the past, Cave Girls uses a semi-documentary style to express the need feminist women have for discovering precedents. There is anger, but more important, a call for women to unite, to cooperate, collaborate, and create new communities.
In a 1983 interview Kiki Smith noted the connection between the mythic world of the Cave Girls and the making of the film. “Not only does the video function to “document” the lost historical presence of women, but it also serves to document the presence of women videographers in 1980s New York City. Significantly, their collaboration in the production of this endeavor actually mimics that of the prehistoric society they envision: a world without men and one in which women support, nurture, and survive with one another.
Preparatory Notes by Kiki Smith and Ellen Cooper
Preparatory Notes by Ellen Cooper & Kiki Smith;
“How do we prepare ourselves for the future? Cave Girls are not in the history books, and yet they must have been here long before world history… The terrorizing of women is of concern to us all. It is all around us, harrassed on the street, on the job, in our homes, and worst of all, by ourselves.”
Cave Girls won’t be Slave Girls; Cave Girls won’t be concubines; Cave Girls don’t take crap
Single Sheet with Preparatory Notes by Ellen Cooper (typed) and Kiki Smith (handwritten)
The handwritten section by Kiki Smith reads: “Cave Girls is a collaborative film video project involving about 35 women organized by Ellen Cooper, Kiki Smith, 1981. It give us the opportunity to work together to address our needs for a new history and to develop a working future, especially now with the backlash of conservatism in this country by the government, church, ???, majority backlash against women… Backlash against women is dividing us in the resurge of…?”
Cave Girls on location in New Jersey, publicity photo by Teri Slotkin
Screenplay notes for Cave Girls film
Screenplay notes for Cave Girls film
Third paragraph: “Scene to take place outside at night swim, make fire, six or seven Cave Girls (six minutes with sound… music and clear sound detail… walking on the leaves also sound of water…) flashes that light the scene from time to time.”
Cave Girls, a 30-minute Super 8 film, 1984
After discovering a mysterious canister containing a video and audio recording by a lost race of cave girls, a contemporary group of women work to decode its contents. To fully appreciate the film one must understand the collaborative nature of the production. Each of the women involved had their own vision about what Cave Girls thought and believed. This multiplicity “emerges in the film’s various juxtapositions of images and narratives.”
