The Women's Suffrage Film Series is a three-part Saturday afternoon film series, followed by discussions, organized by the Bennington Branch of the American Association of University Women, and co-sponsored by the Bennington Free Library and the Bennington Center for the Performing Arts—Home of Oldcastle Theatre. The first two programs take place on January 18 and 25 at Oldcastle Theatre; the third program takes place on February 1 at the Bennington Free Library. All programs begin at 2 p.m. and are free and open to the public.

The series trace sthe American women's suffrage movement from just after the Civil War through the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920.

NOT FOR OURSELVES ALONE (Part Two) will be shown on Saturday, January 18 at Oldcastle Theatre. This documentary by Ken Burns sets the stage for the series through an intimate, loving and sometimes fiery portrayal of the suffrage movement's "miracle partnership" between Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. It picks up a decade after the first women's rights convention in the United States convened in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848, and ends with the deaths of these two close friends and tireless leaders. A discussion will follow the film.

Also at Oldcastle Theatre, SUFFRAGETTES IN THE SILENT CINEMA will be shown on Saturday, January 25. Following the movement into the "modern age," this documentary—which contains clips from a variety of silent films—is a time capsule from the dawn of women's suffrage as a mass movement. It looks at how the new medium of film was used for messaging by anti-suffragists and suffragists alike. Director, historian and novelist Kay Sloan will introduce the film via Skype; the discussion afterwards will be led by Jyotika Virdi, professor of Cinema Studies at the University of Windsor in Ontario.

The venue will move to the Bennington Free Library on Saturday, February 1 for a feature film about a new generation of 20th-century suffragists known as "Iron Jawed Angels." Directed by Katja von Garnier, the film casts aside sepia-toned images of earnest women suffragists in favor of plucky, wildly funny (and, yes, sexy) suffragists who took the fight for the 19th Amendment to the streets and risked everything to get it across the finish line. It traces the generational transfer of leadership from Carrie Chapman Catt (Angelica Huston) to Alice Paul (Hilary Swank) and other young activists.