Image Credit: Kayleigh Barnes
To celebrate Women’s History Month, Pro Moviemaker’s Zena Toscani highlights some female filmic goodness
Despite accounting for 51% of the population, last year women only comprised 19% of all directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors and cinematographers working on the top 250 domestic grossing films. While this figure is somewhat depressing, there’s lots of great work being done, nationally and locally, to address female representation on film. As 8 March marks International Women’s Day, we thought this would be a good time to highlight some of the amazing work women are doing in front of and behind the camera.
For starters, our friends over at Saffron Screen have made everyone’s life easier by incorporating the F-rating on their website. Check out their film listings page and any film which has an F next to it means that either has a female director, writer or shows significant women on screen in their own right. Room (12/13 March), Brooklyn (20 March) and Janis: Little Girl Blue (28 March) are just a sample of the F-rated films showing at Saffron Screen this month; incidentally, these also pass the Bechdel test (see the panel for more on this). Make sure that you follow us @CambsEdition on Twitter as we’ll be giving one lucky Cambridge Edition reader a pair of free tickets to an F-rated screening of their choice at Saffron Screen.
Bechdel Test
This quick test is good way to get thinking about gender representation in film. In order to pass the test, a film simply has to meet the following three criteria:
1. It has to have at least two (named) women in it
2. Those women have to talk to each other
3. About something other than a man
While that sounds incredibly achievable you’d probably be surprised at how many popular films fail the Bechdel test – The Lord of the Rings, Avatar and The Princess Bride we’re looking at you. Of course, the test doesn’t suggest that the film is good or bad, or feminist or not, it’s often just an interesting conversation starter. Especially when you consider that Snakes on a Plane, American Pie 2 and Scary Movie all pass the Bechdel test…
If you like to be more personally involved in your celebration of women in film then look no further than Reel Women. This local group organise a free monthly short film night at the Arts Picturehouse to promote the work of female filmmakers. Their next event is on 24 March from 9-11pm and covers the theme horror, so clear your diaries and steel your nerves.
This month also sees the return of Cambridge’s popular international student film festival Watersprite from 4-6 March, keep an eye on their website www.watersprite.org.uk for the full list of events and head along to scope out the female filmmakers of tomorrow or attend a technical workshop and get learning the craft yourself.
Twitter: @ProMoviemaker
