Videos

Trailer for Menopause: The Movie

There has been an increased visibility of menopausal life and politics in mainstream and social media in recent years, typified by Davina McCall’s recent TV documentaries, high-profile grassroots activist campaigns such as #MakeMenopauseMatter, and the rise of the menopause influencer on Instagram and TikTok.

This is a 2-minute trailer for a 40-minute experimental documentary film, Menopause: The Movie, which features the voices of people talking about their lived experiences of menopause and incorporates a wide range of archive footage from educational, commercial, home movie and social media sources, and newly shot sequences. It aims to consider what we might make of this new visibility of menopause in public life, whose interests it reflects, and the relationship this bears to the marginalisation of older women and the long history of feminist struggles for equal healthcare and bodily recognition.

The film has been made by Ali Ramsey as part of her PhD in Critical and Creative Practice at the University of Sussex, exploring media representations of menopause (supervised by Prof. Margaretta Jolly and Prof. Lizzie Thynne). Ali is a mature student whose interest in menopause comes from her own lived experiences. Her professional background is in documentary making at the BBC and she directs and produces films, audio, installations and plays for award-winning multimedia production company Digital Drama. Her research project won an Adam Weiler Doctoral Impact Award in June 2023.

Contact:

Ali Ramsey, Doctoral Researcher

School of Media, Arts and Humanities, University of Sussex
a.ramsey@sussex.ac.uk

Red Moon Diaries

Made in collaboration with other women across Bristol, the film explores first-hand experiences of the menopause through diary writing. Based on personal diaries over a 6 month period, each woman reads from another woman’s diary. Directed and produced by Liz Banks

Menopause Cafes

We want the whole world talking about the menopause.

At a Menopause Café people, often strangers, gather to eat cake, drink tea and discuss menopause.

Our Menopause Cafés are offered:

• In an accessible, respectful and confidential space
• Open for all, regardless of gender or age
• With no intention of leading people to any conclusion, product or course of action
• On a not for profit basis
• Alongside refreshing drinks and cake!

We look forward to meeting you soon!