ISSUE # 7

AUGUST 2015

The AudioVision
EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL

33

RESEARCH
RESEARCH

EWA ON
ON THE
THE GO
GO
EWA

44

EWA in Cannes 2015

EWA Presents its Innovative Training
Spotlight on Women Success Stories at
Course at Creative Europe Day
Locarno Film Festival
Get Networked Up!
Women Behind the Camera

TRAINING

Online
Coaching
EWA
2015 CANNES
AGENDA

Skills-Based
Training

Multiple Revenue Stream Training for

TRAINING
6
Future Films
Online Coaching
Skills-Based Training
Multiple Revenue Stream Training

EWA Pan-European
Pan-European Research
Research
EWA
Beyond
the
Habitual:
Gender
BalWho Directs German Feature
Films?
ance
in
the
Nordic
Film
Releases
Gender Report: 2009-2013

INTERVIEW WITH...
INTERVIEW WITH...

76

Anna Serner
Rachel Morrison
Bettina Schoeller
Ewa Puszczynska
Paula Ortiz Alvarez

EWA MEMBERS SHINE

HAPPY
HAPPY GLOSSY
GLOSSY NEWS
NEWS

7
8

12
17
14

Credits: Top photo from the segment Cold Birth directed by Amin Bakhshian from the film Undocument also directed by
Kyla Simone Bruce as well as executive producer and EWA member Margaret Glover (2015); bottom photo featuring Inma
Cuesta in La Novia directed by EWAs Vice President director Paula Ortiz (2015)

EDITORIAL

Agata Trzebuchowska in Ida directed by Pawel Pawlikowski and produced by EWA friend Ewa Puszczynska (2013) Music Box Films

Dear EWA friends,

What a thrilling few months for
women in film and the EWA
Network! Our first workshop on
Multiple Revenue Stream training
for future films in Glasgow got the
course off to a great start as the 15
participants really discovered how
they could produce independently
using crowd-funding techniques, viral
marketing and other opportunities
offered by new technologies. The
tutors and trainers shared their
know-how generously to the great
benefit of the participants. There
have also been many successful
ongoing crowd-funding campaigns
by EWA members, including:
Undocument, 2:HRS and
Kaya. We are also proud of
EWAs Vice President Paula Ortiz
whose film La Novia was selected
at San Sebastian Film Festival! On
another note, political progress
towards greater gender equality via
public funds also ploughs ahead.
In Spain, initatives by ICAA and
at regional level in Galicia have
ensured greater equality for support
of projects with women creatives

attached
(directors,
producers,
etc.). EWAs research project in
collaboration with seven national
funds and some supra-national funds
is driving ahead change and there is
a high-level conference to be held on
Friday 14 August in Sarajevo, with
representatives from 47 European
national authorities and funds all
coming together to prepare and
share a declaration on women in
film and how to achieve greater
equality in this area. This is being
organised by the Bosnian Chair of
the Council of Europe Committee
of Ministers. EWA Network will
be represented by Ms Holly Aylett,
Head of Research, who will be
involved in the task force working on
the drafting of the declaration. It is
hoped that this declaration will later
become a Recommendation to be
adopted by the 47 Council of Europe
member states. This would represent
real political progress. Anna Serner,
CEO of the SFI, and Sanja Ravlic,
Eurimages representative for the
Croatian Audiovisual Centre will
also be on the panel as will Beryl

Richards from Directors UK and

other guests. Summer certainly does
not always equate with just being
on vacation and whilst our Head of
Research, Holly Aylett will be busy
further developing the EWA research
project, along with our national
researchers, those of you attending
Locarno Film Festival can attend a
panel moderated by EWA Director
Francine Raveney, scheduled to
take place on Monday 10 August at
the Hotel Belvedere (2.30-5.30pmregistration necessary). To close the
summer EWA is involved with three
events at the Venice Film Festival:
a press conference on first findings
from our research study on Saturday
5 September, a networking apritif
later that day and a presentation
of the MRST4FF training course
on Sunday 6 September during the
industry days. If you are keen to
attend any of these events please
send us an e-mail at: contact@
ewawomen.com. We may be a little
slower to reply than usual in August,
but we will be back in touch as soon
as possible!
The EWA team wishes you a happy
and fruitful summer!

EWA ON THE GO
Cannes Film Festival 2015

Top of the Lake directed by Ewa supporter Jane Campion (2013)

EWA IN CANNES 2015

films directed by women in the official

competition (Maiwenns Mon Roi
and Marguerite & Julien by Valrie
Donzelli).
However, the flatgate incident
referring to women who were turned
away from a red carpet premiere for
wearing flats also garnered criticism
of the festival. On another note,
luxury brand Kering partnered
with the festival to host Women in
Motion - private talks with successful
actresses and directors.

EWAs Networking Happy Hour Event

Cannes 2015 has been particularly

busy and successful for the EWA
Network. During this years Festival,
EWA had the privilege of discussing
womens undervalued presence in
the film industry and how to change
this. We had the pleasure of seeing
a film by a female director opening
the 68th Cannes Film Festival,
Emmanuelle Bercots La Tte
Haute as was the case in Berlin with
Isabel Coixets Nobody Wants the
Night. However there were only 2

Once again, EWAs Networking

Happy Hour Event, held in
collaboration with the Croatian
Audiovisual Centre on Tuesday
May 19 2015, was a major success
in terms of both attendance and
offering networking opportunities for
members. The event was attended by
men and women from throughout
the audiovisual industry - including
representatives from many film funds,
producers and festival directors.
EWA Team also met with numerous
professionals during the festival

regarding the pan-European Research

project, of which initial findings will
be presented during the Venice Film
Festival. We also met several national
womens networks and got inspired
to partner with them for future events
within Film Festivals.

SPOTLIGHT ON WOMEN
SUCCESS STORIES
AT LOCARNO FILM
FESTIVAL
During the Locarno International
Film Festival held annually in August
in Switzerland since 1946, EWA
Director Francine Raveney will be
moderating a panel on Women in
the Industry: Spotlight on Success
Stories. Panellists will include: Anna
Serner, CEO of the Swedish Film
Institute; and Bettina Oberli, Director
and Screenwriter from Switzerland.
The event will be opened by Nicole
Schroeder, Head of Department
FOCAL. The event will be happening
on the afternoon of August 10th in the
afternoon. For more info click here!

TRAINING
Interview with...

Multiple Revenue Stream Training Week One Session in Glasgow (2015)

MULTIPLE REVENUE STREAM TRAINING FOR FUTURE FILMS

The first workshop of EWAs three part training course in Glasgow from 26-28 June has been a great start for envisaging
marketing strategy, audience building philosophy and getting to grips with how to design tailor-made crowdfunding
campaigns for participants projects. The Whisky Bond co-working space offered an inspiring location to learn from these
wonderful tutors and work on the projects, alongside sculptors, music producers and new labels and start-ups. Tutors and
trainers included Emily Best, film producer and entrepreneur founder of Seed&Spark, film-centric crowdfunding and
VOD distribution platform. Emily charmed the audience with her great storytelling, making her masterclasses a complete
experience about building and engaging your audience. Kobi Shely, Head of Marketing at Distrify Media, is an online
media professional with over ten years of experience in marketing, with a focus on B2B marketing support & execution. He
worked with the participants to help everybody reach their targets through various publisher integrations. Kobi enlightened
us with the latest online marketing techniques that lead projects to a successful audience engagement. Francine Raveney
talked about international co-productions and funds and institutions you can apply to for development and gap financing.
Miranda Fleming from Indiegogo explained the global development of crowdfunding for film. Holly Aylett from Birkbeck
College, London University gave a masterclass on European Cultural Policy. Sonia Mariaulle shared with us her art in
trailer movie making; hopefully we will get such beautiful footage as she was able to produce. Sonja Henrici from the
Scottish Film Institute explained the case study I am breathing and how having a devoted marketing and online outreach
expert (PMD) can really make a difference to the reach a documentary can have. Now its time to work, well see each
other in Amsterdam in October. If you are interested in applying for next years course why not come along to one of
our information sessions. Three are scheduled so far to take place in September: in Venice during the festival (6 Sept.), in
London on Tuesday 15 September at BAFTA, organised by Creative England and on 26 Sept. in Strasbourg (date tbc).

ONLINE COACHING

SKILLS-BASED TRAINING

EWAs one-to-one coaching sessions on coproductions and film fund finance with Alessia
Sonaglioni will resume in September
2015. For a limited number of members
our pitching expert Jan Miller will also
be offering some useful pitching tuition.

EWA was delighted to deliver a masterclass during

the Annual International Film Financing &
Marketing Course in Tel Aviv, Israel, to
empower filmmakers which began on 7
July 2015! For more information click
here.

RESEARCH

Jennifer Aniston with EWA friend cinematographer Ravhel Morrison in Behind the Scenes of Cake (2014) Cinelou Releasing

EWA PAN-EUROPEAN
RESEARCH CONTINUES
EWAs study on Where are the women
directors in European films? Data mapping with
best practice and policy recommendations
is storming ahead with the quantitative and
qualitative phases both coming to a close.
With our new partners at the University of
Rostock, we are proud to have distributed the
six-language questionnaire to over a thousand
participants from throughout the European
industry. Another recent partner we are
delighted to welcome is Creative Skillset, UK.
Were very much looking forward to sharing the
first findings with those attending the Venice
Film Festival at a press conference taking place
on Saturday 5 September.

Research Workshop at Birkbeck College, London

University (2015)

BEYOND THE HABITUAL:

GENDER BALANCE IN THE
NORDIC FILM RELEASE
New statistics from Terese Martinssons Thesis
Beyond the Habitual: Studying the Gender
Balance in the Nordic Feature Film Releases
of 2012 presented at the Gothenburg Film
Festival, show that among the 98 Nordic films
premiering in 2012, only one had women in all
key positions, behind and in front of the camera.
The study features key data comparing feature
films released in the five Nordic countries
(Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and
Sweden) during 2012, with plot summaries
for a total of 98 films. The result is on the one
hand a quantitative look at the gender balance
amongst key positions (director, producer and
scriptwriter), and on the other a qualitative one;
with what is shown on the silver screen analyzed
through narrative analysis of plot summaries.
Many essential questions are answered in this
thesis such as which discourses on gender can
be deduced by themes, stereotypes and/or
motives in the qualitative material, and what
depictions stay in the margins? Or how can an
uneven gender balance among the key positions
be related to the content of the films?
Read more on these findings here!

INTERVIEWS
Interview with...
ANNA SERNER
THE FACE OF
SWEDISH CINEMAS SHINING ERA

Nominated the most powerful person in Swedish cinema by the Swedish magazine Cinema Scandinavia
last February, Anna Serner has run the Swedish Film Institute since 2011. One of her most impressive
accomplishments has been to set a goal for equal public funding for men and women in film production by
December 2015: Sweden is therefore the first country to reach this benchmark! Before revolutionising the face
of Swedish film, Anna Serner has also worked thoroughly on the role of media in society. Her previous position
was as Managing Director of the Swedish Media Publishers Association (Tidningsutgivarna), where she was
active in public debate on freedom of speech and the medias role in society. For two years prior to this she ran
her own marketing communications consultancy business, and was also CEO of the Advertising Association of
Sweden (Reklamfrbundet) from 1998-2006. With a degree in law, Anna has a wide experience of board level
appointments, and also served as an expert on various Swedish government commissions, including one on
copyright (2010). In addition, she undertook a two-year course in practical filmmaking at the Stockholm School
of Film as well as film studies at Stockholm University. Photo: Marie-Therese Karlberg (2015)

And stories are told through different

perspectives depending on whether
you are a man or a woman. If only
men get to tell their stories, there is
clearly an underrepresentation of
female perspectives. This has serious
consequences, because it contributes
to a lack of diversity in the stories that
are told!
According to you, what impact do
the media have on society regarding
representations of men and women?

Anna Serner (2015) Per Myrehed

What inspired you to defend gender

equality?
I have always had a strong sense of
equality. I believe everything should
follow the fundamental principle of
equal rights between human beings.
But of course, being a woman, I can
more closely relate to gender equality
through my own life and experiences.
I began to actively fight against
gender-based disparities when I was
34 years old, as I got my first job as a
CEO of the Advertising Association
of Sweden. And since then, I have
been vigorously promoting equality
between the sexes whenever I get a
chance.

Media is the channel that allows

content to reach out to everyone.
Therefore it needs to understand
its responsibility in choosing stories
and building role models. Press,
broadcasting, film they all reflect
society like a mirror. People identify
themselves with what they see in
the cinema, on television and in the
papers. So if the media only spreads
the stories told by men, the rest of the
population will believe this is what
society truly looks like which it
doesnt. By doing this, it contributes
to building the structure that gives
men the power.
How can equal film-funding influence
this?

I believe we dont
need a quota, because Sweden already has a high
awareness of discrimination in society, with a feminist
party and a government claiming to
support the feminist
cause.
As public film funding is a key
financial source for all films, it leads
the way for other financing. So if
the public funder works against
discrimination, not only will it
prevent other discrimination, but it
will also enhance the quality of the
films. No country can afford to say
no to half of its potential talent base!
Why do you think that Sweden is
the first country to set a goal of equal
film funding? And why not directly
implement a quota?

Why do you think that the Film

Industry is a good place to promote
gender equality?
Its not a good place, its a necessary
place! Not only because every place in
society is a necessary place, but also
because films play such an important
role in giving people possibilities
to relate to their lives and those of
others through stories and characters.

Main Poster of Flocken (Flocking) by Beata Grdeler, Sweden (2015) Cinenic Film

We set a clear goal which was 50/50 by

the end of 2015, so we didnt earmark
any funding money or demand
funding decisions. The awareness of
the goal helped the decision makers
to widen their scope of what can
be a good story, and what defines a
quality film. I believe we dont need
a quota, because Sweden already has
a high awareness of discrimination
in society, with a feminist party and
a government claiming to support the
feminist cause.
Could the Swedish model be transposed
to other countries?
Yes! Its not an Einstein-model.
Its simply about ordinary change
management: you set a goal, give it a
time limit and build up an action plan
that you then follow.
How do you feel about being the most
powerful person in Swedish cinema?
I feel humble about the fact that a lot
of people believe their possibilities
to produce and direct films lie in
my power. With that power, I need
to take the time to listen to others,
and maybe move with patience and
more slowly than I would want to. In

Rebecka Josephson and Amy Deasismont in Min Lilla Syster (My Skinny Sister)
by Sanna Lenken (2015) Independant Magazine

fact, I believe the ones who have the

authority must also rise up to their
responsibility to try to make things as
good, fair and predictable as possible.
What difficulties have you come across
promoting equal funding?
Mostly fear from the established
industry both in Sweden and abroad.
There are always counter attacks
from those who are afraid of a
possible decline in quality which they

feel would be a possible consequence

from supporting gender equality. But
what this really tells us is mainly their
fear of not getting the money they
were used to getting! They are also
scared of a new kind of competition,
not knowing what they will be set up
against.
Can you already see positive results
from this ?
Absolutely. Swedish films have a very
good international life right now. All
the new voices have really challenged
the film workers and the festival
world. It raises the standard on the
whole!
Is there a Swedish film you could
recommend to us at the moment?
Yes both Sanna Lenkens My
Skinny Sister and Beata Grdelers
Flocking. They both won a Crystal
Bear at the Berlinale (the international
film festival in Berlin) this year. This
was a historical moment, which the
media didnt pick up on. But you
shouldnt miss it!
- Cecilia Johnson-Ferguson

Filmhuset (Film House) Sweden (2015) Mark Standley

Interview with...

BETTINA SCHOELLER
UPLIFTING GERMANYS FILM INDUSTRY
German multi-talented director, producer, author and journalist Bettina Schoeller is
not one to shy away from pointing out the many gender disparities that exist within
Germanys film industry. Working as a director for television series, documentaries and
feature films, she founded in 2006 the production company Depoetica, with the aim to
unite artistic and experimental films with commercial usability. Bettina is also a member
of the highly vocal Pro Quote Regie movement, an Equal Opportunity Initiative in the
film and television industry, which was initiated by over 200 directors in Germany. The
aim of the initiative is gender-equal representation from state film funding bodies and
increasing the proportion of female directors on on German television programmes and
in German film productions. Bettina published an acclaimed book in 2014 on women in
the film industry called How Did You Do It? Notes from Women and Film along with
two DVDs with Short Films directed by German female directors of the last 5 decades.

What motivated you to join ProQuote Regie?

Its a funny story actually. I started
working on a book with co-author
Claudia Lenssen called How Did
You Do It? Notes from Women and
Film (Wie haben Sie das gemacht?
Aufzeichnungen zu Frauen und
Filmen, 2014), within which
we wanted to portray the reality
for women in the German film
industry throughout the begin-ning
of the establishment of a new film
culture after the second world war
by starting film academies in the
late 60s throughout Germany. For
this, we interviewed 81 women who
worked in film and still continue to
do so. Our main question was: What
are the problems, and has anything
changed in the past few decades?
All of the women we interviewed
mentioned similar problems: there

are strong gender stereotypes

against men and women which
make it much harder for women
to be taken seriously in their job.
Several women actually hid their
children from their producers, so
they could do their films. After the
book was released, Pro Quote Regie
approached me and asked whether
I wanted to join them. Convinced
that the problem of gender inequality in the film industry lies in its
structures, I immediately said yes!
It is not okay that passionate male
directors are still largely seen as
convincing geniuses, whereas their
female counterparts are seen as
incompetent hysterical nut-heads!
The important aspect of the Pro
Quote Regie movement is to present
the cold facts of inequality between
men and women in the Film Industry
in Germany. How did you gather all
this information?
We had to start completely
from scratch in order to gather
the statistics that were missing.
What we found was absolutely
scandalous! In fact, although there
has been a stable 42-45% of women

graduating from German Film

Schools since the past 10 years, and
only 12% of broadcast films are
actually directed by women! The
Pro Quote members and directors
Esther Gronenborn and Verena
Freytag from Bundesverband
Regie, the German directors
board, began researching through
the entire television programme
and cinema releases from 2010
to 2013, in order to find out how
many of the directors broadcast
were men, and how many of
them were women. The appalling
results were published in the 1.
BVR Diversity Report which was
realized with means by FFA; SPIO,
VG BildKunst and the BVR. It
shows: in the very popular sector of
television-thrillers, the percentage
of female directors often lies at 0%!
In the more traditionally viewed
ones as the feminine sector
of love-dramas, this percentage
doesnt exceed 14%. This is really
low! Through the 1. BVR Diversity
Report, which was published
in October 2014, the awareness
around these cold facts regarding
gender discrimination rose.

10

You say one of the main problems

about unequal pay between men and
women in the film industry is the lack of
information about the situation. What
initiatives has the Pro-Quote Regie
movement taken to solve this problem?
One of the ways we act to raise
awareness is by addressing the issue
on a political level. Through our
campaign, we have accomplished
some pretty successful lobbying! Our
demands have reached the German
political scene, and have been adopted
by important groups such as the Green
party (Die Grnen) in November
2014. We have collaborated with all
parties (except for the far-right party
NPD) to address the question: how
can we implement gender equality
through politics? In order to reach this
goal, we need to begin by adding an
introductory paragraph about gender
equality in the Film promotion Act.
During the Berlin Film Festival, the
movement has managed to create
awareness around discrimination
against women in the film industry.
What has been the outcome of this?
Indeed, another way for us to
raise awareness has been to attend
major events such as the Berlin

Film Festival, and to organise panel

discussions in order to address the issues publicly. The results have been
very positive! Degeto, the subsidiary
of ARD, one of Germanys most
important broadcasters, has actually
decided to set a goal to improve the
production of female-directed films.
For the moment this goal is only at
20%, but it is a start! This decision is
directly inspired from the Pro Quote
Regie movement, which they proudly
refer to. Another example is the
announcement made by a production
company to hire a female director:
More than 100 female directors sent
in their projects in response to this
call! This is only more proof that we
need laws in order to allow women
to express themselves in the film
industry.
What are the arguments of your
opponents?
They are always the same. Our
opponents are afraid the quality of
the film industry will suffer from a
compulsory quota. But the opposite
is the fact: There is a whole network
of men that are comfortably installed
in the industry who will have to work
harder to prove they are there for a
reason! This is why we believe the

quality can only benefit from a legal

quota, since it will raise the level of
competition.
What message do you have for young
women debuting as film directors?
They have to know that the reasons
for the difficulties they will come
across do not necessarily lie in their
lack of competence, but in the system
itself! That is what I had to realise for
myself. The problem truly appears
when you reach your mid-thirties.
You surely can be doing your first
feature film and maybe also the
second. But at this point, most of the
women are somehow getting lost in
the system because they are simply
not supported anymore. Thats
when you stop being supported as
a beginner, and when the installed
industry shows its real face. They look
for new young talents. Young women
directors shouldnt be afraid to actively
defend womens rights, and request
for their share of the market! Please
believe us: Thatll only be different in
your case, if we all together change
the whole circumstances and the
structure in which we are working in.
We are definitely not less worthy than
the other half of humanity. - Cecilia
Johnson-Ferguson

Check out our website for more interviews with other directors/producers/sales agents
and EWA members:
INTERVIEW WITH
EWA PUSZCZYNSKA

INTERVIEW WITH
RACHEL MORRISON

INTERVIEW WITH PAULA

ORTIZ

11

EWA MEMBERS SHINE

DOCUMENTARY ON FAMOUS BALLET DANCER RUDOLF NUREYEVS DAYS IN

TURKEY BY NURDAN TMBEK TEKEOGLU

COMPOSER
SELWAY

SIAN

SETTING

ELIZABETH
MUSIC

TO

SONNET XL

Sian Elizabeth Selway has been

commissioned by the Brighton Chamber
Choir (whose President is conductor Sir
Simon Rattle) to compose an original
piece which the choir will premiere
at their Jubilee year Summer Concert
on Saturday 11th July 2015, Sonnet
and Song where she has set music to
Shakespeares Sonnet XL. The theme
of the concert is Shakespeare and the
Renaissance era.
Sian is a young award-winning composer.
She has composed music for many film
and stage productions, including a feature
length documentary drama for broadcast
and theatrical release, and has worked
for one of the UKs most successful
composers of childrens television and
composed cues for the hit BBC childrens
spy drama series M.I High which was
broadcast on CBBC and BBC HD in
February 2014. She has also composed
the music for an ongoing television series
titled International Chef Exchange
for Latest TV, which is currently being
broadcast on Freeview Channel 8 in the
UK and Virgin 159, and also on demand
online. For more info on Sian and the
Sonnet click here!

The intention of both directors Evgenia Tirdatova and Orhan Tekeoglu was to reflect
how much Rudolf Nureyev, one of the most critically acclaimed ballet dancers who
ever lived, missed his home country Russia and his mother in Ufa, by coming 4 times a
year to Turkey, which is the closest country to Russia between 1980-1990. They rely on
Yasemin Pirincioglus memories, Nureyevs best friend. The documentary was shot in
Topkap Palace, Rstem Pasa Mosque,Grand Bazaar,Fatih in Istanbul, different villages
of Fethiye,Gemiler Island, in the house of Yasemin Pirincioglu between 27 June and
12 July. The producers are Medyaton-Nurdan Tmbek Tekeoglu and Evgenia Tirdatova,
owner of Kinoglaz.The documentary will be released by January 2016.

GIOVANNA RIBES SHOOTING IN VALENCIA

Giovanna Ribes started shooting her second feature film La Familia, entirely shot in
the Valencian language. The story follows university student Roger, about to start living
in his new flat. He agrees to take in his grandfather, also named Roger, who refuses
to stay in an elderly home in spite of his attacks of senile dementia. The two Rogers
search for a past that looks real, without understanding the present that looks like a lie.
The name Roger seems like a curse, defining the men as short-tempered, distant, a little
misogynist yet unable to live without a woman. Amongst reality and fiction building
up in his grandfathers mind, Roger unveils the
past of that family, which defines him. The film
has been supported by CulturArts IVAC.

12

FOUR JOURNEYS, TWO DIRECTORS: CROWDFUND FOR UNDOCUMENT

Margaret Glover, EWA member based in the UK and renowned script editor, is the executive producer on this remarkable feature nearing
completion, Undocument. This narrative feature bears witness to four journeys of longing and love, immigration and identity as one
cinematic vision. Based on factual research and personal stories, the film explores the challenges illegal immigrants the undocumented
face every day. Undocument started its journey as two graduation films by a British woman and an Iranian man when Margaret was
teaching at the London Film School. From the beginning Kyla Bruce and Amin Bakhshian wanted their films to reveal the full journey
of various immigrants from the desire to leave their country of origin to finding a new home where they could have leave to remain.
Directors Amin Bakhshian and Kyla Simone Bruce shot the four segments over two years, on location in Iran and London. Two years
later they now have a raw material for a powerful feature that just needs a final edit, grade and mix.
So far the film has been a labour of love; and now theyre appealing to others for the funding to complete the film and launch the festival
and independent marketing campaign. You can check their Kickstarter campaign here.

KAYA: AN INVITATION TO LOOK BEYOND GENDER

STEREOTYPES

Canan Turan is a Berlin based director and one of the two

protagonists in the film Kaya, a film about her dad Hamdi
Kaya Turan, following her 2013 short film KIYMET that tells
the story of her strong grandmother. Canan affirms that it
requires courage to tell a personal story since the protagonists
are revealing something private, thereby making themselves
vulnerable. What my dad and I hope we can achieve with this
film is to encourage viewers to think about their own family
history and conflicts. Behind the seemingly irreconcilable
differences often lie more similarities than one would believe.
Those that get inspired will find many relatable factors with
KAYA - THE ROCK AND THE SEA. Our
great efforts would pay off if we succeed in
doing that... See more here!

2:HRS - CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN TO SHOOT INSIDE

THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

2:HRS is about Tim, a budding graffiti artist, who at 15 is not only

selfish but an expert at messing up. So what happens when Tim
discovers he has only two hours to live? While on a school trip
to Londons iconic British Natural History Museum, Tim finds
out news that will change the course of his life forever! Diane
Juhr-De Benedetti and Andromeda Godfrey, an actress and
screenwriter duo with over five years of experience producing
award-winning short films which have been shown around
the world. Theyve been described as gold-dust, and like to
inject a little bit of magic into all of their films. You can help
them to produce this low-budget feature film at
Indiegogo. They have already secured half the
amount, click here to help!

13

 HAPPY GLOSSY NEWS

CONGRATULATIONS
ISABEL COIXET!

REESE REWARDED

CELEBRATING WOMEN

CATE AS DIRECTOR

Reese Witherspoon will receive

the American Cinematheque 2015
Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Oscar-winning actress will be
honoured at Cinematheques annual
benefit gala Friday, October 30 at the
Hyatt Regency in Century City.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Suffragette, the first feature film to

tell the story of womens fight for the
vote. The film tells the story of the
working-class British women who,
inspired by the suffragette leader,
Emmeline Pankhurst, took their
fight for enfranchisement to the male
establishment in Westminster.

Cate Blanchett is to make her first

foray behind the camera, developing
and directing a new television series,
Stateless, based on the life of Cornelia Rau. The series focuses on the
story of a German-Australian woman who was wrongly detained as an
illegal immigrant. Jane Dempster

SPANISH FILM FUNDS WORKING FOR PARITY

We could not be happier to learn that ICAA (Spanish Film and

Audiovisual Arts Institute) and AGADIC (Galician Film Fund)
have just awarded funding to so many projects directed and written
by women. Spanish institutions are working for gender equality as
they give credit to projects both directed and written by women.
The selection committee usually has an equal number of men and
women. ICAA is currently directed by Lorena Gonzlez Olivares,
whereas AGADIC has a male director and a woman as coordinator
of Audiovisual Policy, Dolores Rodrguez Meijomn. Mujeres
Cineastas y de Medios Audiovisuales (CIMA) has been striving for
gender-positive measures since its creation in 2008. Due to the hard
work and brilliant performance of Spanish producers, directors and
writters this year, we have something to celebrate:
ICAA granted funding to 12 projects out of 26 directed/written by
women! Some of these include Rumbos written and directed by
Manuela Moreno and Tierras de Soledad written and directed
by Meritxell Colell Aparicio. AGADIC also granted funding to 4
projects out of 10 produced/directed by
women which include As troitas Cantan
Ao Mencer directed by Alexia Muios.

14

JOIN
TODAY
Interview with...

Maya Vitkova, New EWA Ambassador for Bulgaria (2015) 12mag.net

WHAT IS EWA NETWORK?

If you would like to find out more about EWA Network or share any information with us please contact us at:
contact@ewawomen.com
EWA welcomes new ambassadors: Katarina Hager and Masa Hilcisin from Czech Republic, Biana Barker
for Scotland, and Maya Vitkova for Bulgaria. We already have ambassadors in Germany, the Netherlands, the
UK, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, as well as the the
UAE amongst others. EWA also actively recruits country ambassadors to co-ordinate events (e.g. screenings,
meetings) at national level in conjunction with national partners (associations and other groups). If you would
like to be an ambassador for your country, send us your CV and covering letter to contact@ewawomen.com
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website header and this newsletter. Or even photos from related events which youve attended... EWAs space is
to showcase you and make more visible your work... so dont hesitate to take advantage of this.
If youre not yet a member, why not join today? For only 50 a year, EWA will give you a free coaching
session with one of our experts, discounts on/access to selected training courses. We also help our members
and ensure that their successes are shared widely. Contact us at ewawomen26@gmail.com and our Outreach
Manager Patricia Molina will contact you back asap.
Dont forget to follow us at @ewawomen and on Facebook!

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