The Period Documentary *Everyone* Needs To Watch

Months ago, I was invited to watch the premier of Periodical, the period documentary, in an intimate theater in Los Angeles. I then searched long and hard for an editor who would publish a story on the film, to no avail. This was yet more proof, in my mind, of the director’s argument within the film: conversations and awareness around women’s period needs to be talked about more, yet there are so few people willing to do so. Today, I’m self-publishing this review to change that.

Somewhat softly, but with unmistakable and long-needed power, director Lina Plioplyte is starting a revolution…She’s doing so with her film: Periodical. Such was the case in a small, womb-like private theater where she sat with the audience post-premiere; exactly the kind of safe and sacred space for such a dialogue about the wrongfully tabooed subject of the menstrual cycle.

The film opens to perceptions and understandings of the menstrual period from all ages and walks of life. From confusion to delight, resentment to indifference, we see a myriad of assessments of the most natural — and most shunned — part of a woman’s life. In doing so, Plioplyte makes immediately clear just how far we have to go in the conversation toward so much more than social equality for women and their periods.