New Day Films was founded in 1971 by four feminist filmmakers frustrated by mainstream distribution channels.

New Day’s original three films have become classics: Growing Up Female by Julia Reichert and Jim Klein, Anything You Want To Be by Liane Brandon, and Amalie R. Rothschild's It Happens To Us. "The whole idea of distribution was to help the women's movement grow," note co-founders Julia Reichert and Liane Brandon. “Films could do that; they could get the ideas out. We could watch the women's movement spread across the country just by who was ordering our films. First it was Cambridge and Berkeley, and then the first showing in the deep South.”

New Day Films has now grown to over 300 titles and 140 filmmaker member-owners. It functions as a participatory democracy with an organizational structure and business practices that embody the values promoted by our films. Members today curate the collection to encompass a wide range of subject areas – and sustain the ideals that inspired the cooperative’s formation in 1971: egalitarian partnership, great stories, and ideas that spark positive change. In the tradition of our founders, New Day still seeks to be honest and intentional in addressing the racial, cultural, and socioeconomic composition of its membership.