A recent dip in female-led theatrical releases in the UK - back to 2018 levels of 26% reminds us that our work is far from over; that we cannot be complacent.
Below you can read about the research we conduct into gender representation in film and the wider industry, tracking the release landscape to present an accurate picture of investment in films by filmmakers of marginalised genders.
Here you can also find out about news and opportunities at Reclaim The Frame, along with curated film recommendations, filmmaker interviews, and creative responses.
Updated: May 10, 2023
Participants and organisers from Reclaim The Frame x International’s Filmonomics training programme are attending Berlinale and the European Film Market 2023.
Launched on International Women’s Day in March 2022, Reclaim the Frame x International aims to support culturally diverse women & non-binary filmmakers based across Lebanon, Turkey, Tunisia, Taiwan and the UK through the circulation of works, and through a professional development programme: Filmonomics.
The project is delivered by a consortia: Birds’ Eye View (UK), Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival (Turkey), Regards de Femmes International Film Festival (Tunisia) & Women Make Waves International Film Festival (Taiwan), and supported by British Council.
The project has been awarded a number of passes thanks to a partnership with EFM’s Inclusion Initiative. Supported by Creative Europe Media, HessenFilm, the European Film Market (EFM) and the Berlinale, the EFM (Online) Market Badge Inclusion Initiative aims at creating outreach and greater pathways into a more inclusive market and film industry at large for marginalised film professionals from across the globe.
The following participants will be in attendance:
Aephie Chen, UK, Writer/Director.
Aycan Aluçlu, Turkey, Producer.
Chia-Hsuan Tan, Taiwan. Writer/Director/Producer. (attending EFM online)
Derya Durmaz, Germany, Writer/Director/Producer.
Emna Mrabet, France, Writer/Director.
Safa Ghali, Tunisia, Writer/Director/Producer. (attending EFM online)
Sheng Ting Shen, US, Director.
Yara Lahoud, Lebanon, Writer/Director.
In addition, representing the project, members of the consortia will be present
From Birds’ Eye View (UK), director Melanie Iredale. Melanie will be attending as a Jury member for Berlinale’s Teddy Awards.
From Flying Broom Women’s Film Festival (Turkey), director Nil Kural and coordinator Fatma Edemen (attending EFM online)
From Regards de Femmes (Tunisia) festival coordinator, Azza Jedidi (attending EFM online)
From Women Make Waves (Taiwan), programmer, Huei-yin Chen and programmer Hsieh I-Hsuan.
Turkey-Syria earthquake
We are devastated by the news of the earthquake that has killed, injured and displaced thousands of people in Turkey and Syria. We’ve been fortunate enough to work with Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival and a number of wonderful Turkish filmmakers this past year through our #ReclaimTheFrame x International project, some of whom experienced personal loss on Monday. Our hearts and thoughts are with them. We’ve donated towards the aid that is so desperately needed, and for those of you who can also help in any small way, please click on the LINK to our website that will take you to the Red Cross donation site. Any amount will help. Thank you.
SHORT BIOS
Aephie Chen: is an interdisciplinary filmmaker, artist, curator working across Taiwan, UK and Iceland. She has lived in twenty-nine countries and the stories she explores often re-imagine identities, narrating relationships in a contemporary multicultural society.
Aycan Aluçlu: After completing her bachelor’s degree at the Department of Economics, she started to work in the production and coordination departments of Nar Film. She has been involved in production, project development, and funding on freelance projects. Aluçlu is an alumna of Sarajevo Talents 2019. She is producing her cinema projects under the roof of her company, Surrealland.
Chia-Hsuan Tan: is a Taiwanese filmmaker whose career has also developed around China and the US. Chia-Hsuan has a BA degree in Anthropology from National Taiwan University. This background in cultural and humanities studies has deeply affected her approach in filmmaking .She’s currently writing a story focusing on female basketball players in Asia, hoping to raise public interest in female athletes and their difficult situation.
Derya Durmaz: Her first short film Ziazan (2014) received 11 awards and full coverage in Washington Post and Monocle magazine. Her second short Mother Virgin No More (2015) premiered at the Berlinale Generations. She is a Berlinale Talents, Toronto TIFF Filmmaker Lab, First Films First and Film Independent Global Media Maker alumna. Her first feature film project won the Berlinale Talent Project Market Talent Highlight Award.
Emna Mrabet: Raised in Tunisia, Emna Mrabet mad two short films; Paroles d’exilés (2008) and Absence (2010). A l’Aube de nos rêves (2019) is her latest documentary about post-revolutionary Tunisia. Her films have been featured in several festivals, including PCMMO, Rendez-vous de l’histoire de Blois, Festival du Cinéma Méditerranéen de Tétouan. With a PHD in cinema, she is also a university teacher, researcher, critic and the author of the book Le cinéma d’Abdellatif Kechiche: Prémisses et devenir (2016).
Safa Ghali: After getting her engineering degree in statistics and data analysis, she decided to pursue her dream and joined a cinematographic school. She directed 5 short movies and has participated in Tunisian festivals and abroad. In 2019, she got her Masters degree in writing and directing from ESAC. She is currently writing her Phd thesis in cinema.
Sheng Ting Shen: Born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, Sheng-Ting Shen is a director, editor, and producer currently living in New York. Sheng-Ting’s short film Bad News (2020) was selected and won over 15 international film festivals. Her latest short film, The Coolest Club (2022) is on its festival run.
Yara Lahoud: journeys by storytelling through scriptwriting and film directing. She advocates for human rights, peace and women’s empowerment through her films and creative projects. Yara collaborated with production companies and national filmmakers on a variety of projects, including short films, documentaries, and series. She also works as a screenwriter for various platforms (youtube, short films, Instagram, websites). She was in charge of numerous health awareness sessions held in schools, initiatives, and workshops, for which she used her creative direction during the execution phase. Yara also devotes her time to learning opportunities and influential initiatives that promote peace through media and film.
Birds’ Eye View (UK)
Birds’ Eye View champions women & non-binary led perspectives in cinema, and connects with audiences through community building and conversation.
We preview and present week-of-release screenings, curated cinema seasons and special events, connecting audiences to filmmakers, cultural influencers, social justice campaigners, researchers, artists and critics in a safe and inclusive space for conversations. Launched in 2018 in partnership with five cinemas, our network has grown to 20+ cinemas in 15 cities across the UK. In addition, we engage audiences through online activity and support digital releases.
Expanding on this, our Reclaim The Frame x International project works in partnership with women’s film festivals around the world to take our shared mission overseas, with support from the British Council.
Reclaim The Frame is complemented by our industry-facing/training activity with filmmakers and distributors/exhibitors of marginalised genders, supported by ScreenSkills, which in turn furthers our work in diversifying representation/the gatekeepers and our mission for equity in all film spaces.
Flying Broom Women’s Film Festival (Turkey)
Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival has been organised by Flying Broom annually since 1998. The festival is an international organisation where feature-length, short, documentary and animation films by women directors from Turkey and around the world are presented to the audiences in a framework of specific themes, panels, discussions and exhibitions. In addition to the film screenings, local and international directors, press members and film critiques are hosted in Ankara as a part of the festival.
Regards des Femmes (Tunisia)
Regards de Femmes is the first festival in Tunisia dedicated to women directors. It is an event created by the Tunisian Federation of Film Societies to empower women filmmakers specially at their early career. The event provide a yearly platform that aims enhance the presence of women in film industry by promoting their work, discussing it and raising the challenges they encounter. The festival also provides a diversity of trainings, workshops and panels for each edition. The well known script writing residency organised is an unavoidable activity of the festival.
Women Make Waves (Taiwan)
Taiwan Women’s Film Association (formerly Taipei Women Film and Video Association) was established as a non-profit organization in 1993. We have been organizing the annual Women Make Waves International Film Festival, one of Taiwan’s major film festivals which has established itself as the biggest one dedicated to supporting female talents. It is also the longest-running and largest issue-oriented film festival in Taiwan. Starting in 2001, we took Women Make Waves Film Festival on the road around the island to decrease the gap in Taiwan’s urban-rural divide, becoming the first touring film festival in Taiwan.
Reclaim The Frame x International is funded by the British Council’s International Collaboration Grants, which are designed to support UK and overseas organisations to collaborate on international arts projects.
Updated: May 10, 2023
We were devastated by the news on Monday 6 February about the earthquake that has caused so much death and destruction to parts of Turkey and Syria. Our hearts and thoughts are with the people.
We have been fortunate enough to work with Flying Broom International Film Festival, and a number of Turkish filmmakers this past year through our #ReclaimTheFrame x International project, and have heard firsthand how they have been affected by this disaster.
Some of our filmmakers from the LGBTQIA+ community have come together with sex workers from different cities, organizations, and initiatives and as independent activists, to help friends in the earthquake zone who do not feel safe in their tents, or who are trying to leave the area safely. LGBTQIA+s and sex workers in the earthquake area do not feel safe in public areas, and are deprived of many basic needs. Discrimination, which makes their lives difficult in ordinary times has been exacerbated by the extraordinary situation they find themselves in. Many are saying they do not receive the same humanitarian aid.
Your donations will improve the conditions for everyone in Turkey and Syria at the desperate time, including meeting the needs of LGBTQIA+s and sex workers in the earthquake area.
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Here’s a number of organisations where you can donate. No amount is too small.
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Thank you for the solidarity.
Updated: May 10, 2023
By Delphine Lievens (She/ They)
When this year’s BAFTA longlists were released, many had hoped to see Sarah Polley and her film Women Talking among the nominees. However, in a deeply ironic move, the film had been long-listed for just one award – a Supporting Actor nod for male cast member
Ben Wishaw.
To those who follow the ebbs and flows of awards season year after year, this sort of irony is to be expected. When tracking the diversity across awards nominees there is never a straight line of improvement, more of a case of one step forward and two steps back, with women and POC (people of colour) continually missing out to their white, male counterparts. After all, following Moonlight’s landmark Best Picture win, two years later the same award was given to Green Book. The films share an actor in the form of the incredible Mahershala Ali, but that is where the similarities end, with one film giving a far more authentic representation of Black lives in America than the other.
Women Talking was not the only ‘snub’ of this year’s awards season. The most prominent headline has been Andrea Riseborough’s surprise Best Actress nomination at the Oscars, a move that many think has pushed both Viola Davis (for Wakanda Forever) and Danielle Deadwyler (for Till) out of contention. There are three POC in the ‘Supporting’ categories, although Dolly De Leon whom many hoped would receive a nomination for Triangle of Sadness is absent. Frequently across the Oscars and BAFTAs, POC are under-represented in the Best Actor and Actress categories, and only allowed to reach the heights of the ‘Supporting’ category instead. A WOC (woman of colour) hasn’t won a Lead Actress Oscar since Halle Berry’s landmark win over 20 years ago and at the BAFTAs no WOC has ever taken home the Best Actress award. However, the BAFTAs does feature both Viola Davis and Danielle Deadwyler as nominees in this year’s category, alongside Michelle Yeoh.
As noted, the Supporting Actress categories often fare better, with half of the winners of the Oscars category in the past 10 years being WOC: Ariana DeBose, Youn-Yuh Jung, Regina King, Viola Davis and Lupita Nyong’o. Amongst the Best Supporting Actors, Mahershela Ali won Best Supporting Actor twice, the first Black Muslim man to take home the award. He joined Daniel Kaluuya as the only POC winners in the past 10 years. Will Smith was the only POC to take home the Lead Actor win.
At the BAFTAs, Hong Chau and Dolly De Leon both received nods in the Supporting category this year, although in a step down from the diversity shown across the pond, only three WOC have taken home the award in the past 10 years. Actors fared slightly better than at the Oscars, Barkhad Abdi joins Daniel Kaluuya and Mahershali Ali as the only POC to have won the Best Supporting Actor award in the past 10 years, whilst Chiwitel Ejiofor and Will Smith are the only POC winners of the Best Actor category.
As is often the case, at this year’s Oscars women were also noticeably absent from the Best Director category, despite Women Talking receiving a nod for Best Picture. With Best Director featuring only 5 nominees, and Best Picture allowing up to 10, female directors are almost always the ones who drop from the list. Only 2 women have won the Best Director award at the Oscars in the past 10 years, at the two most recent ceremonies where Jane Campion and Chloe Zhao were winners. Yet, in a demonstration of the “one step forward, two steps back” approach to diversity, this year we’re back to an all male field of nominees.
This is not a direct result of a lack of potential nominees either. In a history-making move, BAFTA has nominated Gina Prince Bythewood in their Best Director category this year for her film The Woman King, the first WOC to ever receive a nomination. Until 2020, there was a noticeable absence of women nominated in this category at all, with only Kathryn Bigelow and Lynne Ramsay nominated in the years between 2010-2020. With 3 female nominees at the 2021 awards and one woman in the category both this year and last year, the BAFTAs are showing some progress, albeit again inconsistent. Whilst female directors are totally absent from the Best Film nominations at this year’s BAFTAs, there are 3 represented in the nominations for the Outstanding British film category: Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun, Sally El Hosaini’s The Swimmers and Sophie Hyde’s Good Luck to You Leo Grande.
The past 10 years have also seen 3 POC winners of Best Director at the Oscars, but intriguingly, they all have East Asian heritage: Chloe Zhao, Bong Joon Ho and Ang Lee. Chloe Zhao was of course the first ever WOC to win in 2021 for Nomadland, in the same year she made history as the first ever WOC nominee in the category too. However, East Asians are often incredibly under-represented across the acting categories, receiving a much needed boost this year thanks to the inclusion of Everything Everywhere All At Once among the nominees. Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu both received nominations in the Supporting categories, whilst Michelle Yeoh was another history maker, the first ever East Asian actress to be nominated in the Best Actress category. At the BAFTAs, Chloe Zhao is the first and only WOC and POC to have received a Best Director win.
The Oscars have been vocal about the changes to their voting body in recent years. In 2016, the voting body was 92% white, and 75% male. Since then, they have worked to invite new members to redress this balance. In 2021, 46% were female and 39% came from ethnic minority backgrounds. In addition they have announced guidelines that mean that films will need to meet new diversity standards to be nominated for the Best Picture category from 2024 onwards.
Meanwhile BAFTA CEO Jane Milichip has defended the diversity of the 2023 nominations stating it’s ‘a great year for diversity and breadth of nominations’, pointing to the 40% representation of POC across acting categories, as well as the breadth of female directors represented in nominations outside the Best Director category.
This scattergun approach to diversity and inclusion across both the BAFTAs and the Oscars can leave many film fans and those working in the industry frustrated. With the films made by and featuring women and POC often receiving smaller releases and smaller awards campaigns, there are clearly sector-wide issues to be addressed. Furthermore, it leaves us questioning to what extent the implemented changes by awards bodies are actually making a lasting difference.
Delphine Lievens is a Freelance Distribution Consultant, Box Office Analyst, and advocate for diversity in film. Follow Delphine on Twitter @DelphiLievens
