A film exploring the unsung heroines of electronic music will receive a spotlight this International Women’s Day, thanks to the Irish Film Institute, AEMI and the folks at the Dublin Feminist Film Festival. Writer-director Lisa Rovner’s film Sisters with Transistors combines archive footage, interviews with experts and the stories of women creating in the world of electronic music themselves to reexamine the underplayed innovations by women in electronica.
Coming to IFI@Home on Monday 8th March, Sisters with Transistors looks at female pioneers in this particular music genre, through the visionary women whose radical experimentations with machines redefined the boundaries of music, including Clara Rockmore, Daphne Oram, Bebe Barron, Pauline Oliveros, Delia Derbyshire, Maryanne Amacher, Eliane Radigue, Suzanne Ciani, and Laurie Spiegel. Narrated by Laurie Anderson and made up almost entirely of rarely seen and newly discovered archival material showing each of these extraordinary figures at work, Sisters with Transistors traces a history of radical practice by offering up the space to these women to relate their own utterly compelling stories.
As part of proceedings, a panel made up of women currently working in the Irish electronic music scene will take place online for free at 8.15pm on Monday March 8th following a watch along screening of the film that evening at 6.30pm. Moderated by Kate Butler, speakers Linda Buckley, Celaviedmai, Michelle Doyle and Syn will respond to Sisters with Transistors and describe how the women portrayed in the film have influenced their own practice. This Q&A session will take place via Youtube HERE.
The film is available to rent via the IFI’s online platform now until 9th March and viewings are available for €7.50.