Westport Island resident and filmmaker Barbara Cray is holding a free screening of the working version of her new film “Votes for Women: A History of Women’s Suffrage Through Song” on Sunday, Nov. 1 at 4 p.m. at the Barn at Squire Tarbox Inn on Westport Island.

The film has been accepted for national airing on public broadcasting stations next year, including for PBS's Women's History Month in March. The film tells the story of achieving women's voting rights, illustrated with archival material from the National Archives and the Library of Congress, and is interspersed with songs of the suffrage movement performed by Portland chorus Women in Harmony. As she is putting the finishing touches on the show, Ms. Cray is offering the screening for comment and discussion.

Ms. Cray is an attorney who expresses her creative side through film. She has produced and directed three television shows that are broadcast on over 95% of public television stations across the nation during the holiday season: “European Christmas Markets,” “Christmas on the Danube,” and “The
Magic of Christmas in Alsace.” For the “Alsace” show, Ms. Cray engaged the Maine Girls Chorus to sing the soundtrack for the show. Ms. Cray also is in post-production of a feature-length documentary about an autistic child and a service dog entitled “A Dog for Charlie.”

Ms. Cray's new film tells the story of the women's suffrage movement. The idea for the film grew from a concert given in January of this year by Women in Harmony, of which Ms. Cray is a member. The first half of the Right to Vote concert were songs of the suffrage movement. Ms. Cray prepared video segments that were interspersed between the songs which told of the history of the movement. The idea for the video segments grew out of Ms. Cray's attendance last fall at a filmmaker seminar in Washington D.C. instructing as to how to research for film at the Library of Congress and the National
Archives. Having no specific subject for a current project to research, Ms. Cray decided to research the music and images of the suffrage movement because as a member of Women in Harmony she was already singing songs of the movement in preparation for the January concert. Ms. Cray discovered such a wonderful depth of material that she proposed the video segments between songs to Women in Harmony to enhance their concert.

Ms. Cray is particularly proud that she was able to obtain as narrators for the videos used at the concert, among others, Governor Janet Mills, U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree and Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives Sarah Gideon. Although they will not narrate the text of the film for television, their contributions to the concert narration added wonderful gravitas and flavor to the event.

The film is of great moment for our times. August of this year was the centennial of ratification of the 19th Amendment which made denied of the right to vote to women unconstitutional. Covid precautions hampered planned celebrations of this anniversary. Interestingly, the Spanish flu hampered the fight for the right to vote in 1918, but the efforts of women to help during this crisis enhanced their value in society and the need to grant them a corresponding right to vote. And the current election cycle demonstrates that voting rights can still be jeopardized, and the impact of the “woman's vote” on the present election may influence its outcome in unexpected ways. Thus, the struggle of women to achieve the right to vote by the 19th Amendment can serve as an interesting discussion point for today. The suffrage songs add emotion and context to the struggle for the woman's right to vote.

The film of approximately 50 minutes will be shown, with discussion to follow, on November 1, 2020 at 4 p.m. at the Barn at the Squire Tarbox Inn, 1181 Main Road on Westport Island. Squire Tarbox will be selling light snacks and beverages if desired. An R.S.V.P. is required to set up seating consistent with Covid safety protocols. Please email your R.S.V.P. with your name, contact information and number of people in your attending “pod” to craylaw@comcast.net <mailto:craylaw@comcast.net or call 207-256-9700.