Produced and Directed by Paul Rothman
Full
Circle is the only film to have ever been made on the most revolutionary
social experiment of the century - the attempt to create sexual equality between
women and men on the Israeli kibbutz. Through archival footage and interviews
with several generations of kibbutz members, the film follows the evolution
of family life and work roles from pioneering days to the present.
The original utopian goal was total gender equality. Children lived apart from their parents in a special children's community. Freed from daily child care, women participated fully in all economic sectors of the community by working alongside men as equal partners.
In the 1960's, when the rest of the Western world began to embrace feminism, the new generation of kibbutz women began to return to more traditional gender roles. Rejecting the achievements of their grandparents, the women returned to their traditional role: cooking, cleaning and taking care of children. Today, with women no longer participating in the productive economic sectors of the community, the original egalitarian ideology has been compromised.
Full Circle raises many questions about the permanence of social reform, the adaptability of human nature and the goals of sexual equality. This is a groundbreaking film for use in sociology, women's studies, Jewish studies, Middle East studies, anthropology and gender studies.
What's Happening? series, MoMA, 1995
Association for Women in Psychology, 1997
National Women's Studies Association, 1996
58 min. Video or DVD. Sale $295. Video rental $85. Discussion guide available.
"'Full Circle' is a mirror for many of the paramount issues urgently confronting our own society." Joseph Blasi, Former Director, Dept. of Kibbutz Studies, Harvard University
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