Iris Feminist Collective, Inc.

Iris Films is a not for profit, 501c3 organization, founded in 1975 and incorporated in 1976 by feminist filmmakers to creatively address social issues through media. Iris Films is a woman, African American and LGBTQ-led organization, based in Oakland, CA.

Iris Films was a primary distributor of women’s films in the United States until 1985, when it turned its collection over to Women Make Movies in New York.

Iris’s primary function is as a producer and distributor of documentary films. The organization is artist led and upholds high artistic and aesthetics values in approaching social issue filmmaking. Its award-winning films include In the Best Interests of the Children, We All Have Our Reasons, Skin Deep, and Long Night’s Journey Into Day, the Sundance award winning and Academy® nominated film about South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Iris Films’ productions are used by activists, teachers, students and community groups to facilitate discussions about reconciliation, tolerance, transitional justice, racism, affirmative action, human rights, and civil rights. Iris Films has a history of utilizing multiple distribution networks to reach audiences and issue stakeholders.

Our audience is worldwide as demonstrated by the reach of our films, from Boise to Palestine and from Korea to the Caucasus region, Iris’s works have engaged audiences in diverse locations from church basements, to film festivals and refugee camps alike.

Iris is in production on a new media project Afro-Uruguay: Forward Together, a journey into a unique South American Afro Latino enclave. This project builds on Iris Films’ history as a premiere producer of excellent documentary content and ushers in a new era of service and interactivity - with the communities we feature in our films as well as broader national and international communities.