Wellywood Woman

A fabulous first! New Zealand on Air (NZ On Air), our government broadcast funding agency, invests in local television, radio, music and digital media for New Zealand audiences. It's required to consider audience diversity and has just produced its first NZ On Air Diversity Report . The report shows the gender and ethnicity make up of ‘above-the-line’ roles in screen productions that the agency funds. Here's the full report , which covers the 2014/15 and 2015/16 years, for projects completed by April 2016. And here's its infographic, summarising the report's findings. This will be an annual report. This one shows– Women comprise 55% of funded television producers, 33% of television directors and 38% of television writers or researchers. Women are most under-represented in drama, where they make up just 11% of all directors. (This is a really important bit of data, at last!) Pākehā are over-represented in all roles, compared to general population stati...

Beti Ellerson (photo: Christophe Poulenc) Beti Ellerson established the Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema | Centre pour l’étude et la recherche des femmes africaines dans le cinéma in 2008. It is a virtual, dynamic and in-depth archive of information on the research, study and documentation of African women in cinema. Beti’s African Women in Cinema   in French and English, is a database with a lively blog, details about women filmmakers, video interviews, essays and reviews and various associated social media accounts. In today’s intense dialogue about inclusion in filmmaking it’s a vital resource and I want to celebrate Beti and her work. How did the centre start? Were you a filmmaker? This passion began twenty years ago. It grew out of my desire to continue my post-doctoral research project, entitled African Women in the Visual Media: Culture and Politics , that I started as a 1996–1997 Rockefeller Humanities Fellow. I was really inte...

Andrea Arnold dancing with her beautiful American Honey cast What an exciting Cannes it's been! Lots of debate about films directed by women and about how we can get more of them. And although there are only three women-directed films among the 21 films in the main competition, 12 of the 21 have female protagonists. What does that mean for the future? I've had a fine time watching Cannes online, through its official streaming, on Youtube and including some of the women's events run by Kering's Women in Motion  programme.  Is Cannes Any Better? I asked in one post. Maybe it is. Here are the women directors and writers among the prize-winners in various categories; and an actor. But note this– The last (and only) woman to win Best Director at Cannes was Yuliya Solntseva in 1961. #Cannes2016 — Women Film Directors (@women_direct) May 22, 2016 I knew about Jane Campion being the only woman to win a Palme d'Or but this too is significant. 1961!!! Now th...

Marianne Slot, Chiara Tilesi, Patricia Riggen and Juliette Binoche speak at Cannes We Do It Together is a globally oriented non-profit production company, founded by Italian producer Chiara Tilesi. It's a wonderfully ambitious concept. According to its website  We Do It Together  aims– ...to use the power of cinema, and all those who join us, to stir and shake human hearts and minds, to balance these numbers and change deep-seated perceptions about female stereotypes. As a first practical step, we feel that the way to make this a reality is to give women from around the world a concrete way to express themselves, their talent, and tell their stories. We will choose a diverse group of female directors to join us in making films that will challenge and dismantle these perceptions. We feel that good intentions are not enough, and that when given the chance, women will deliver compelling, accessible, and equally commercial stories, and break down these invisible walls in...

Barbara O'Leary Women’s film activism goes from strength to strength.  Part of this is due to sustained commitment from organisations like Bitch Flicks , Le Deuxieme Regard , the European Women’s Audiovisual Network , Raising Films , the Swedish Film Institute, Women Make Movies and many others; and from women’s film festivals and scholars within the academy.  There are also many individuals, like Beti Ellerson at African Women in Cinema , Destri Martino at The Director List , Melissa Silverstein at Women & Hollywood and the Athena Film Festival, versatile independent film writer, critic and poet Sophie Mayer and Maria Giese, the extraordinary director who initiated the American Civil Liberties Union investigation into discrimination against women directors that has blossomed into a United States federal investigation.  Among these brilliant individuals there’s also director, producer, activist, distributor Ava DuVernay who has effected – with co...

Ivana Massetti & the Swedish Film Institute's legendary Anna Serner #Womeninfilm activists continue to build powerful cross-border networks. Ivana Massetti is one of these activists, a filmmaker with a new TV show, who this year founded Women Occupy Hollywood (WOH), to help bring the voices of women filmmakers to the forefront. She spoke with Niger Asije of the New Current (tNC)  about her filmmaking and inspirations as well as what she hopes to gain from WOH. Hi Ivana, many thanks for talking to tNC, how’s things going? Hi Niger! Everything’s going very well! So many things are happening right now that make me euphoric! Not just in my life but in the entire world. Women are in the spotlight. The world is talking about women and gender equality. Awareness about the injustice women are suffering not only in the entertainment industry but in every field of society, is spreading everywhere. Awareness brings change. And we need change. We can’t continue to accept a nar...