We’re sending out a great big “Thank You!” to you our followers.
So, these are some of the things we’ve found out about you since we’ve become friends;
Seventy-seven percent of you are women on Facebook; on Twitter women make up 66% and finally on Instagram 74% of you are women!
Filmmaker Aysha Scott
Ladies, your support has been phenomenal. We can’t thank you enough.
However, we’d like to bring to everyone’s attention that we welcome support from men and other allies who genuinely seek to challenge stereotypical representations of black women and women of colour in front of and behind the camera.
Filmmaker Kandace Walker
We’re asking fundamental question about how people are contributing to changing the status quo of black women who’re underrepresented in the Media and Film industries.
Guest Panelist Delia-Rene Donaldson
When looking at submissions for example, we ask questions about the production crew. So, do you have any women in key decision-making positions? Who’s your producer, editor and/or director? If women are in acting roles we ask of the production; to what extent are audiences following her narrative, or is she just an addendum in standard narration?
Melanie Hoyes – BFI
Take a look at our programming for our 2017 debut. You’ll see that it includes productions from men and non-black, allied women. When you look at those productions and their commitments you’ll then get an idea about why we included them in our programming.
Whether we like it or not men still make up the largest percentages of the industry. Working with men is inevitable. What we’re keen to do is work with those who’re happy to work intelligently with women to make necessary changes – if nothing else, it’s good for business.
We are right to complain about and to industries which don’t represent black women in a fairer way, if only because if we’re in the UK a licence fee has to be paid to the BBC. What we should endeavour to additional include in our viewing experiences is to seek out platforms which are providing the visual nourishment we need for ourselves and upcoming generations.
Please pass this message on and share widely where you can. The more we can bring on board to share knowledge, expertise, entertain and watch films which bring in more than just the standard narratives, we can contribute to making the industry a fairer place to inhabit.
Women Of The Lens is currently accepting submissions from any genre. You can submit productions via Filmfreeway. More details about submissions criteria can be found here.
Our main Festival takes place on Friday 16th, Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th November at Genesis Cinema, 93-95 Mile End Road, London E1 4UJ
Recent Comments