Film: Radical Harmonies

This epic documentary – and Frameline26 Audience Award winner – traces the 30-year evolution of women's music, from the lesbian folk singers who gave rise to Olivia Records in the 1970s to the dyke punk rock grrrl bands who brought mosh pits to Michigan in the '90s. Celebrate Women's History Month with a special free screening of Radical Harmonies followed by Q&A with director Dee Mosbacher in partnership with Frameline.

Radical Harmonies shows how a distant dream sprang into a full-blown cultural movement. It offers an inside look at the early days of women's music, when Cris Williamson and Meg Christian's explosively popular first album was recorded by a group of novice female engineers and producers working with no budget and the most basic equipment. Soon, there were women engineers, distributors, producers and music collectives springing up all over North America. By touring in her station wagon across the country to the notorious "women only" concerts, Williamson (with colleagues like Margie Adam, Holly Near and Robin Tyler) created the first wave of a radical new art form that merged music, community and politics. And as African American a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock came on the scene, a full-fledged multi-cultural, multiclass revolution ensued.

The documentary includes performance footage and interviews with some of the most influential musicians, dancers, and comedians in the movement, including Ani DiFranco, Ferron, Cris Williamson, Casselberry-Dupreé, Margie Adam, Holly Near, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Toshi Reagon, Azúcar y Crema, Tribe 8, The Hail Marys, Bitch and Animal, Ulali and Wild Mango. 

NR, 88 mins., 2018.

Seating is first come, first served.