Parity Pipeline

Parity Pipeline

Acting Like Women

Directed by Cheri Gaulke

Revisiting the groundbreaking feminist performance art movement in 1970s Los Angeles, one artist spotlights the inspirational, transformational, radical community exploding the narrative and status quo.

  • ABOUT
  • BIO
  • SCREENINGS
  • AWARDS
  • CREDITS
  • GALLERY

Genre

Synopsis

Through interviews, archival footage, and personal reflections, feminist artist Cheri Gaulke revisits the 1970s Los Angeles foundational art space, The Woman’s Building, laying bare how a collective of artists transformed their bodies and voices through performance into a powerful tool for activism, reshaping the cultural landscape for generations of women.

Bio

Cheri Gaulke is a pioneer in the feminist art movement in Los Angeles affiliated with the Woman’s Building working in film and visual art. Her award-winning films have screened in film festivals internationally. Gaulke’s work has been presented at the Museum of Modern Art (NY), the Museum of Contemporary Art (LA), in a Smithsonian-touring exhibition, and in settings all over the world including buses, churches, and prehistoric temples. In her almost 50-year career, Gaulke has created 30 media works including documentaries, experimental personal narratives, and video installations. Gaulke has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, City of Los Angeles, California Community Foundation, and California Humanities. Recent films include GLORIA’S CALL about women artists of surrealism (Best Documentary at Ann Arbor Film Festival), MISS ALMA THOMAS: A LIFE IN COLOR about an under-recognized African-American artist (traveling with a museum retrospective exhibition), INSIDE THE BEAUTY BUBBLE about the owner of a roadside attraction in Joshua Tree California (numerous audience and other festival awards), and the recently completed OLD GIRL IN A TUTU: SUSAN RENNIE DISRUPTS ART HISTORY about a queer, octogenarian artist. She is just finishing on her first feature documentary, ACTING LIKE WOMEN, about feminist performance art in 1970s-80s Los Angeles https://actinglikewomen.com/.

Screening History

World Premiere, Bentonville Film Festival, June 17, 2026

West Coast Premiere, Frameline, June 21, 2026

Awards History

Metabolic Studio (Annenberg Foundation) 2024 - Grant

California Humanities 2023 - Documentary Project Grant and Research and Development Grant

The Chimaera Project Finishing Fund 2022 - Grant

Credits

Cast - Lily Tomlin

Director of Photography - Kristy Tully

Composer - Miriam Cutler

Writer/Director/Producer - Cheri Gaulke

Editor - Susan Metzger