SIFF 2025: 'Know Her Name' Movie Review

All-too-often people seem to believe there were no, or at least vanishingly few female filmmakers throughout the history of the medium. If Zainab Muse’s Know Her Name has anything to do with it, that won’t last much longer. Her documentary dives into the deep, rich, and integral, not to mention frequently overlooked and undervalued role women have and continue to play in film history. 

 

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Featuring archival footage and interviews with historians, and filmmakers like Mary Harron, Deepa Mehta, and many more, the film explores the contributions women have made to the art form dating back to the very first days. Muse’s specific focus is to explore the hows and why of what the film calls our “collective amnesia” when it comes to this, and to shine a light on the works of pioneering women in film. Much of this work has tragically been lost to time, and even more distressing, the picture highlights the repeating cycles erasure that continue to this day.

 

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Insightful and detailed, at times, Know Her Name plays a bit dry, especially at the outset. Think of something you’d come across on PBS some random afternoon and you have a good idea. It’s an interesting and vital topic, but the academic nature can feel like someone reading a textbook at you. That, fortunately, doesn’t last. It quietly builds, ratcheting up the underlying frustration and anger at the systems in place that allow this minimizing to keep happening, sneakily growing to a righteous outrage. [Grade: B]

 

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