DAUGHTER RITE
1978, USA
Director: Michelle Citron
50 minutes, Color, Sound
 This film is a story about the institution of motherhood and the roles women play in contemporary society. It presents two sisters discussing their relationship with their mother and with each other. This film is a critique of the patriarchal system that dominates our society. That system is portrayed in narrative cinema by the traditional male characters determining the action and direction of the plot while female characters are merely shown as symbols of sex and eroticism. The film shows home movie footage of two daughters in traditional roles and is combined with interview scenes of two sisters discussing their feelings toward their mother. This film appears to be a documentary yet the women are actually actresses. The characters represent all daughters and mothers and the stories told in the film were compiled from many interviews of different women. Also shown in this program were Thriller and Chantal Ackerman’s I’m Cold I’m Hungry.