Wellywood Woman

My Name Is Andrea:  fury & tenderness is now Pratibha Parmar’s My Name is Andrea , about the radical feminist and writer Andrea Dworkin (1946–2005), explores who Andrea was. It also exposes the ongoing violence inflicted on women’s bodies and spirits across the globe, through featuring five diverse actresses — each one evoking a different aspect, experience and decade of Andrea Dworkin’s life. Pratibha on set with actress and activist Amandla Stenberg who plays young Andrea. In the spirit of contemporary independent women’s film making, the film’s being made in parts and the first twelve minutes of the film is shot and edited. And it’s an impressive twelve minutes. This is what Gloria Steinem said after viewing it– …I can see that this is going to be a film like no other — lyrical, poetic, referential, journalistic, placed in time, deep, complicated…. And it was so moving to me to see what I assume truly is Andrea as a little girl. Nobody but you cou...

This year #WomenInFilm ‘how-to’ talks have flourished. The speakers aren’t the first to share, nourish and inform, of course. But until this year, there was just one standout for me: Ava DuVernay’s  Film Independent Forum keynote   in 2013. She brilliantly argued that filmmakers should abandon despair about not having access to what we need and move on from depression about what makes our work difficult: a ‘wrong’ gender, a ‘wrong’ race or culture, no film school training, no money, no mentors, no advocates, no time. Instead, ‘Create work’, she said. ‘Look at what you have and work with that’. She’s also argued that ‘It’s not about knocking on closed doors. It’s about building our own house and having our own door’, and that has resonated for many women filmmakers. installation, National Museum of African American History & Culture (Smithsonian) In the three years since, lots of women have followed her advice — or come to a similar conclusion independently —...

Catherine Eaton and The Sounding illustrate all that excites me about the 'new' women's filmmaking– sophisticated and engaging concepts; the rise of the actor/writer/director; writer/director/producer associations with #womeninfilm support groups; crowd-funding; a beautiful, thoughtful, confidence; principled choices; visual pleasures. Catherine has Native-American heritage, so for me her project also celebrates the rise and wonderful diversity of indigenous women’s filmmaking. Catherine has performed on Broadway and on screen and written two television projects (both finalists for the Sundance Episodic Labs), and is a 2016 Tribeca & Channel Women’s Filmmaker Award winner. The Sounding 's  immaculate crowdfunding campaign for finishing funds gives us two days left to get behind a winner! I'm delighted to share this engaging Danielle Winston interview, with warm thanks to Agnès Films, where it was first published . Catherine Eaton and team. Photo b...

This is Megan Riakos, writer/director/producer of Crushed (a thriller, 2015, available on iTunes and Google Play in Australia, New Zealand and North America). Megan also inspired WIFT New South Wales’ red carpet demonstration at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) awards in Sydney, after she had ‘a terrible experience with the AACTA Award selection process’ and approached WIFT NSW, where she’s a committee member. She got a very supportive hearing: WIFT NSW says it’s ‘fed up with the Sausage Party that is the Australian film industry and calls on AACTA to make Australia’s night of nights truly representative of our diverse screen culture’. It’s also produced a Charter for Gender Equity at the AACTAs. The demo was called the Roast the AACTAs (#AACTASausageParty). Here are The Activist Sausages. The protest attracted lots of attention. You can read about it in more detail  here  (WIFT NSW) and  here  ( Junkee )and  ...

Megan Thompson Megan Thompson is in her final year studying Creative Events Management at Falmouth University in England and became interested in feminist film festivals because she'd like to be involved with them in the future. Inspired by the underrepresentation of women directors at general film festivals – a hot topic at the moment, as in Kate Kaminski's   'Aren't We There Yet?' the other day – Megan wanted to learn from women directors who have entered film festivals, including women's/feminist film festivals. What experiences have we had? What barriers have we faced, in the industry and at film festivals? Megan's chosen to use a feminist approach, allowing our voices to be heard without the pressure of fitting into questionnaire boxes. Our responses will help build her research into a strong narrative of multiple voices, which can be used by film festival programmers, to educate others about this issue and to help make change. The link to f...

I'm delighted to share Kate's illuminating article, because film festival selection is a global issue for #womeninfilm, even here in New Zealand at the New Zealand International Film Festival.   Many thanks, Kate!  And thanks too, for Catherine's photo and Reggie's concept photos, developed for Kate's celebrated  Bluestocking Film Series  (Bstkg). Front: Sarah Doyle and Brittany M. Fennell, directors. Back: Yolonda Ross (director), Dawn Jones Redston (director), Tema Staig (Women in Media). Photo taken at Bluestocking 2016. Photo:   Catherine Frost by Kate Kaminski As the founder and artistic director of the Bluestocking Film Series, this IndieWire headline caught my attention immediately: 'Women Directors Are Everywhere, But Film Festivals Are Still Catching Up — NYFF'. Now in its 7th season, Bluestocking Film Series’ mission is to celebrate and amplify women’s voices and stories, and is part of a long tradition of women-centere...

Sue Clayton in the Calais Jungle camp Director Sue Clayton is perhaps best known for her award-winning Hamedullah: The Road Home , about the forced removal of young people from the United Kingdom (UK) to Kabul and for her archive of interviews with young asylum seekers in the UK and her work with a team researching best outcomes for young asylum seekers . Today, she’s in the vast refugee camp called ‘the Jungle’ in Calais, northern France, which acts as a border to the UK. According to Sue, it is 'not an official camp. It’s run by about 100 young volunteers, mainly untrained, and no infrastructure at all’.  In a few hours,  the French will begin to demolish the camp and scatter its occupants all over France, in buses. Sue is focusing on the over 1000 unaccompanied children and  young  people in the camp,  the 'unaccompanied minors',  who live in cold tents with no food or power. She is finding as many as possible, making  making C...

WARU l to r Chelsea Winstanley , Katie Wolfe , Briar Grace-Smith , Paula W. Jones , Ainsley Gardiner , Renae Maihi , Casey Kaa , Awanui  Simich-Pene (not shown,  Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu ) If you're excited by Ava DuVernay's work, especially her Queen Sugar series, entirely directed by women, and by We Do It Together and its Together Now , seven short films in one (1), you'll want to know about WARU . Māori women excel in the literary world, as writers of fiction and poetry and as playwrights. They've also made many short films and docos and television programmes. But only two Māori women have directed feature films: Ramai Hayward directed 1972's To Love a Māori , with her husband Rudall, and Merata Mita directed Mauri in 1988.  WARU ('Eight'), responds to that history with a powerful, collaborative and change-making intervention. WARU is an 80-minute feature produced by Kerry Warkia and Kiel McNaughton of   Brown Sugar Ap...

Xuanyi Fu Back in April, I was invited to speak at Resistance, backlash and power – Gender equality and feminist new practice in EU and global discourse , at the National Centre for Research on Europe at Canterbury University. Afterwards, Xuanyi Fu came and chatted. I was thrilled because her project excites me and I always love to hear more about women’s filmmaking in China. And now she's kindly answered these questions. Where are you from and what’s your film background? My name is Xuanyi Fu  傅煊贻 . I was born in Chongqing, China. I did my bachelor degree in Cinematography at Sichuan The Fine Art Institute in China and I got my master degree with merit in Film and Screen Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London in the UK. I’m a PhD candidate in Cultural Studies at the University of Canterbury. My supervisor, Adam Lam, is an expert in Chinese films, literature, language and culture, which is why I came to New Zealand. What’s your thesis about?  My thesis is ...