Circulating Useful (Feminist) Media : NGOs and Grassroots Feminist Distribution in the UN Decade for Women (1975–85)

This article offers a historical and methodological assessment of the role of nontheatrical, grassroots distribution during the United Nations Decade for Women (1975–1985), a period marked by growing transnational exchanges and the so-called NGOization of the women’s movement. The essay reconstructs the microhistories of two organizations: the NGO ISIS International, which promoted networking and women’s alternative media-making in development aid; and the Mexican distribution company Zafra A.C., which, thanks to the work of members of the collective Cine Mujer, played a pivotal role in the international circulation of Latin American women’s films, particularly in noncommercial, activist, and educational circuits. By illustrating the infrastructural and political impact of distribution, the cases of ISIS and Zafra shed light on the convergence and clashes between women’s transnational activism, NGOs, and local cinematic cultures, urging us to shift the focus on the epistemological power of collaboration for the study of feminist nontheatrical media.