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Filmmaker Cristina Perincioli has been making movies that center upon women since the early '70s. The Swiss director gained extensive training in making documentaries at the Berlin Film and Television Academy. In addition to women's issues, Perincioli also examines social problems such as nuclear power and the military. Her commitment to issues can be seen in films such as Die Macht der maenner is die Geduld der Frauen (1978), an often brutal exploration of one woman's experience with domestic violence. The intent of the film was as much to educate viewers as well as instill empathy into the suffering caused by battering. In the film, she used real women staying at the women's refuge she established -- it was West Germany's first battered women's shelter. All the scenes were rehearsed before a video camera then later viewed and discussed collectively. Perincioli prefers this collaborative technique for filmmaking; she also prefers working with women.