“Knowing your history gives you courage.” – Annie, age 16
Seneca Falls is an independent documentary film I wrote, produced, and directed with an all-woman production team from San Francisco and Los Angeles. It’s among the most meaningful and impactful documentaries of my career.
The film takes viewers on a contemporary road trip with nine diverse teenage girls bound for the birthplace of women’s rights in America. It aired on more than 150 PBS stations in the U.S. and Canada – most often in prime time – beginning in 2010. Since then, Seneca Falls has been screened at more than 80 public events in university, community, festival and governmental settings, and is often the focal point for special programs marking International Women’s Day. The film is now part of the permanent collections of hundreds of universities and libraries across the world.
Our lively one-hour documentary follows a teenage theater troupe from the San Francisco Bay Area to Seneca Falls, New York where they perform their original play at the historic 150th Anniversary celebration of the world’s first women’s rights convention. There, the girls join tens of thousands gathered to mark this momentous yet often overlooked moment in American history, meeting political luminaries, leading historians, and other actors who are bringing this history alive. More than a teenage road trip, the film is an awakening of young hearts and minds – a rite of passage – and ultimately, a life-changing experience for the nine young women and the lone boy on the trip. Audiences and critics have called the film moving, inspiring, radical, and a vibrant, eye-opening lesson about the power of small acts of courage to spark sweeping social change.
You can view the trailer and find educator resources here: www.louisevance.com/senecafallsfilm/
You can download the film for purchase or rental on-demand on our VHX site here: https://senecafalls.vhx.tv
And you can purchase the DVD with extras for libraries and institutions by sending an email inquiry to: louise@louisevance.com. We will get back to you promptly with pricing and shipping info and PayPal instructions for payment.
As the teenage girls sing on stage in Seneca Falls, “We pass the torch to the women of tomorrow, that they live not in darkness.” Thank you for helping us empower women and girls everywhere.
