New Day Films: Collective Aesthetics and the Collection

New Day Films was founded in 1972 - on the cusp of sweeping changes in documentary and feminist filmmaking practice - by four documentarists who were unable to gain distribution in the bottleneck of the New York nonfic­tion filmmaking scene (Figure 1). Despite these challenges, their films abot1t the everyday texture of women's lives were in demand with audiences as the women's movement grew across the country.' Today, New Day is one of the most financially stable nontheatrical distribution collectives in North America, boasting more than 165 members and $1rn in yearly revenues.2 Films distrib­uted by the collective have been screened, broadcast and awarded around the world, studied in media journals, discussed at organising events, showcased in museums, and collected by libraries. New Day's collective (and its collection) provide compelling objects of study for the history of gender and documentary authorship.