Armed with her firsthand experiences as a woman in the punk scene and camera equipment borrowed from her day job, D.C. filmmaker Amy Oden began shooting the interviews that would compose From the Back of the Room in 2007. It took four years of blood, sweat, and fundraising to produce the film that will gets its hometown premiere tonight. (The Black Cat hosted a preview screening a few weeks ago at C.L.I.T. Fest.) Oden says she was inspired to make From the Back of the Room when she realized her own punk community wasn’t the progressive utopia she once thought; consequently, her film doesn’t just document scene history—it interrogates it. While it follows in the tradition of Kerri Koch’s 2005 riot grrrl documentary Don’t Need You, Oden’s work cuts a much wider swath, spanning three decades and including women whose music is heavier than riot grrrl’s relatively glossy bop. The filmmaker’s four-year project paid off: From the Back of the Room is an exhaustive, diverse, and thoughtful meditation on women in the punk community.

The film shows at 8 p.m. at E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW. $10.