‘Stop and Search’: How the Militarised Space of Belfast’s Past is Navigated by Feminist Film-makers

Abstract

This article provides a comparative case study of feminist filmmaking strategies deployed to address issues around the militarised space of Belfast during the conflict, often known as The Troubles. This article makes specific reference to scenes from Pat Murphy’s formally experimental film Maeve from 1981, which contains key moments of gender-based harassment and violence between two sisters and British military personnel in Belfast. Analysis is also provided of the author’s own short film New Threads, which uses elements of BBC archival video of Belfast in 1976 and extracts from a book of first-person accounts of lesbian lives in the 1970s and 1980s to depict LGBT+ lives in a subversive manner.