Wellywood Woman

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...