Dublin Feminist Film Festival has established firm roots on Dublin’s cultural calendar, shining a spotlight on women in film. DFFF promotes and celebrates female filmmakers, hoping to inspire and empower others to get involved in filmmaking.

This involves considering women on-screen, but also behind the camera, through the dual-aspect of celebrating and showcasing fantastic female filmmaking, as well as demonstrating that women make compelling and complex characters and subjects.  DFFF is a celebratory couple of days and our commitment to inclusive art is reflected in the programme each year, showcasing a range of work, from documentary to drama, short form to feature, films from different places and representing different perspectives, as well as work by women-of-colour.

ABOUT 2018'S FESTIVAL

The theme for #DFFF2018 is REFRAME/REFOCUS. Rather than foreground particular topics, our programme this year will feature films not only directed by women, but also shot by female cinematographers. In emphasising the role of the cinematographer, we aim to expand the notion of who 'makes' a film and what 'Films by Women' means, while also raising questions about whether and how films shot by women feature a different or other gaze.

WHY CINEMATOGRAPHY?

In 2018 something remarkable happened: Rachel Morrison garnered an Academy Award nomination for Cinematography for her work on the film Mudbound. At first glance, this might not seem so out of the ordinary. Over the last four decades, women have regularly and increasingly been nominated for and won international awards for production roles that had previously been male-only domains. Not so with cinematography, however. Morrison was the first woman ever to be nominated for her work behind the camera in ninety years of Oscars! Awards aren’t everything of course. But historically speaking, cinematography has been the most difficult filmmaking role for women to break into.

And yet for the past several years, some of the most visually exciting films in world cinema have been shot by women. Long-standing talents like Ellen Kuras, Agnés Godard, Caroline Champetier, and Mandy Walker have in recent years been joined by a huge influx of international cinematographers like Quyen Tran, Nanu Segal, Reed Morano, Morrison, and many more.

For the Fifth Dublin Feminist Film Festival, we have decided to highlight the role of the female cinematographer. In coming to this decision, we thought about it from several different angles. Does a woman’s camera “see” differently? If much of what makes film so compelling is the visual, can a film be “by” its cinematographer as much as its director? And institutionally and structurally speaking, why has the field of cinematography in particular been so reluctant to accept women into its ranks?

Thus we present REFRAME/REFOCUS, wherein we hope to reconsider, not simply the role of the cinematographer in general, but very specifically the role of the female cinematographer and how she lights, frames, and moves through the onscreen space that constitutes our visual filmic experience.

To that end, all the films we screen this year – features and shorts – were directed and shot by women. As part of the festival, we’re also featuring a talk by an esteemed academic on female cinematography, and a roundtable discussion with two Dublin-based female cinematographers.

It’s important to celebrate the work of Rachel Morrison, and we heartily congratulate her on her achievement. However, as we continue to reconsider the fantastic work that female cinematographers are doing around the world, we hope it will become increasingly clear that one nomination in ninety years simply isn’t good enough.

BZN International Film Festival is dedicated to understanding diverse points of view and is in the vanguard in restoring media literacy among our youth. The BZN vision is to highlight movies that make a positive impact on audiences—stories that showcase the best of the human spirit while inviting a call to action. We champion films that educate and enrich while they entertain: documentaries, indies, comedies, features and shorts that make our cut must be intelligent and thought-provoking, inspire curiosity, and encourage community and global awareness. Above all, they should stimulate conversation—a lost art we’re determined to help restore.

The inaugural BZN International Film Festival will run June 7-10, 2018, and spotlights women filmmakers, directors, actors and producers who are ready to take the helm, pioneering projects to change current statistics and elevate women’s visions and voices. We are seeking submissions that define strong women who respect themselves and know their worth. These characters - fictional and real - may choose to be intrepid adventurers as well as strong partners, mothers, friends and businesswomen and along the way they inspire, energize and embolden people of all ages regardless of their sex or ethnicity.

About Bozeman Film Celebration

We are thrilled to launch the inaugural event this June, and look forward to welcoming filmmakers, speakers and leaders in the film industry to Bozeman, ranked as one of the 20 most beautiful towns in America by Conde Nast Traveller!

BZN is dedicated to supporting and promoting women’s voices in film and the film industry, and as such will present a series of events and conversations that will focus on various challenges and elements of filmmaking as a woman.

The 2017 Women's Voices Now (WVN) Online Film Festival

Submissions Open: October 17, 2016, 9AM PST

Submissions Close: February 6, 2017, 11:59PM PST

Official Selections Notified: February 10, 2017

Online Film Festival: March 8, 2017- April 5, 2017, 11:59PM PST

Award Winners Notified: April 12, 2017

Contact: wvnff2017@womensvoicesnow.org

$10,000 IN CASH PRIZES

Submit your film here: https://filmfreeway.com/festival/WomensVoicesNow

The 2017 Women's Voices Now (WVN) Online Film Festival is an opportunity for films and filmmakers interested in exposure and advocacy for women’s rights, and teaming up with WVN to have your films seen around the world. Films must be about women’s social, economic, and political issues. Films by women and men are accepted into the festival. This is the fourth WVN Online Film Festival.

Women’s Voices Now seeks to amplify the voices of all women. We believe in the power of free expression to realize the aspirations of women's rights. At WVN, we look for compelling films in the documentary, narrative, and experimental genres that push boundaries and subvert expectations. We are looking for films that are relevant to our global community and which tell unique stories and amplify voices of women from around the world. We judge all film submissions based on relevance of subject matter to our film festival, strength of a film’s storytelling (use of structure and image to communicate a compelling story), and the technical aspects of filmmaking.

All films in any language other than English are encouraged to submit; however, all films must include English language subtitles. There is a $20 submission fee for each film submission. Submissions are incomplete until we receive a high resolution, screening-ready, digital download.

By submitting your film to our festival, you agree to our Rules & Regulations and Licensing Agreement.

For more information on Women’s Voices Now: www.womensvoicesnow.org.

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See another side of the picture, hear the rest of the tale.

Seen & Heard was launched in Sydney in 2009 as a non-profit film festival by Lucy Randall with the view to promote women’s filmmaking and bring to light industry prejudices that may not be so clear to the consumer.

At that time, a woman had never won an Academy Award for Best Director (and only three females had ever been nominated in the entire history of The Oscars). Nobody talked about the absence of women in production roles in mainstream media. 

Female filmmakers, particularly in Australia, have long campaigned for their place in film as activists and as film collectives. Over the course of the festival's lifetime, both industry and media are slowly sitting up and taking more notice of these issues too. It is clear, though, that wider cultural change remains a distant goal.

According to the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film,

"Women comprised 16% of all directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors working on the top 250 (U.S.) grossing films of 2013. This figure represents a decrease of two percentage points from 2012.

In 2013, women accounted for 6% of (U.S.) directors. If foreign films in the top 250 are included, this figure increases to 8%. In other roles, women comprised 10% of writers, 15% of executive producers, 25% of producers, 17% of editors, and 3% of cinematographers."

The dramatic under-representation of female filmmakers inevitably leads to a dearth in solid female characterisation as well. Female characters remained dramatically under-represented as protagonists, major characters, and speaking (major and minor) characters in the top grossing films of 2013. Again, the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film reveals in their most recent report:

"On-screen female presence remains abysmal. In 2013, females accounted for 15% of protagonists, 29% of major characters, and 30% of all speaking characters. Female characters were younger than their male counterparts and were more likely than males to have an identifiable marital status. Further, female characters were less likely than males to have clearly identifiable goals or be portrayed as leaders of any kind."

Further disadvantages in the film industry exist for women of colour, non-cis women, queer women, women from low-income backgrounds, and women with disabilities.

It is not hard to see that the lack of any type of women in the film industry is an impoverishment to our culture, one that can only be rectified once we recognise that the dramatic under-representation of women amongst both cast & crew is a problem.

For the first time this year, Melbourne audiences are invited to join us in taking that small, but necessary, step towards female filmmakers being both Seen & Heard. We promote the message that films made by women are not just for women: they are wonderfully rich films that should be seen by everyone. Trust us, you're in for an exciting program of films that are as diverse as they are visually stunning.

We look forward to seeing you at ACMI from November 13 - 16.

The Women In Film Foundation’s Film Finishing Fund (WIFF FFF) supports films by, for or about women by providing cash grants of up to $15,000 and in-kind services.  Since the inception of the Fund in 1985, the Foundation has awarded more than $2 million in cash and in-kind services to 170 films ensuring that innovative films can be completed and seen by audiences worldwide.  Cash awards range from $1,000 to $15,000, with the number of grants varying from year to year.  In-kind services may be available upon request.

Among the many FFF success stories is OSCAR® winning Short DocumentaryFREEHELD, directed by Cynthia Wade and produced by Vanessa Roth, which was a 2007 grant winner.  Says Wade, "Women In Film came in at a critical point.  The Film Finishing grant was a vote of confidence - it's lonely as an independent filmmaker.  Unless you have the resources, the film is only as effective as the audience you can reach.  I'm grateful to have the understanding that women filmmakers need to be supported."

Film Finishing Fund recipients’ films have won many major awards including Emmy and Academy Awards, and have screened at festivals worldwide including Sundance, Toronto, South by Southwest, LA Film Festival, Vancouver, AFI Fest, Tribeca, San Francisco, Montreal, Berlin, Avignon, Dubai, and Chicago.  They have aired nationally on HBO, PBS (“Frontline” and “POV”), OWN (The Oprah Winfrey Network), Showtime, and internationally on various European, Asian, and Australian television channels.

In order to apply for a FFF grant, a filmmaker must have completed at least 90% of principal photography and a have a rough cut at the time of application.  For specific application requirements, please follow the link and refer to the application.  The program funds filmmakers working in both short and long formats in all genres—narrative, documentary, educational, animated and experimental.  You do not have to be a Women In Film member to apply for the FFF, and we encourage applications from around the world.  Please note that student projects are not eligible to receive Film Finishing Funds.

The FFF is run by experienced industry professionals who have an eye for spotting talent and potential.  For more information, contact the Women In Film Foundation coordinator at foundation@wif.org.