Janie’s Janie is part of the films of the Third World Newsreel, whose works represent vibrant documents of the 1960’s women’s movement, the role of women in the overall protest movement, and the thinking of young women at that time in history. The very existence of these films resulted from struggles around gender issues within Newsreel, so they are documents not only of a time and its issues, but also of the efforts of feminists to give creative visual form to their concerns.
Janie’s Janie is unique in the Newsreel collection. It is a “personal documentary” that follows a woman who comes to realize that she has to control her own life, after years of experiencing physical and mental abuse. Using both interviews and verité material, it is one of the more complex Newsreel films.
