If you are passionate about film make sure that you involve yourself in the conversation and find out what the brilliant minds at For Film’s Sake are doing to make themselves heard. For Film’s Sake (26–30 April 2017) is the brainchild of women in the film industry who demand change.
Gender parity in film is a global issue and this festival aims to do something about the fact that only 7% of cinematographers in Australia are women. Gender parity and a festival brimming with incredible new talent, great stories, and films? Count me in!
For the inaugural night of the festival, my plus one and I headed to Sydney’s beautiful Town Hall to see what CEO of the Swedish Film Institute, Anna Serner, had to say about the festival, about film, and about gender equity. Sweden is the first country to achieve gender parity in film making, under Serner’s guidance, so she was an excellent choice to weigh in on the topic.
Serner spoke passionately about the challenges faced by women worldwide to achieve parity. Relevant to the film industry in this case but to every industry in general, Serner encouraged those concerned with the fight to achieve equality to ‘keep talking about it’ until our voices are no longer “muffled”. Her overarching message for the evening being that equality is important because it equates to quality.
This inaugural talk set a fantastic tone for the festival. If the films which come out of this are anywhere near as good as one might expect given the number of talented women behind the production of this event alone never mind the festival itself, then we are in for a treat.
Make sure you head to the website to check out the feature films and shorts nominated and produced as a part of this sterling effort to raise the standards of film making, and keep an eye out next year for the week where Sydney is turned into a theatre for women’s voices.
– Elli
Elli de Ryckman de Betz is a woman living in Australia. Being of the firm belief that all of our stories matter and that equal representation is the only way to achieve the kind of dialogue and conversations that both men and women deserve, she will gladly take any opportunity to get vocal about women’s rights and ask that all-important question: ‘Would you say that to a man?
For Film’s Sake runs 26-30 April 2017.
