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Male Agenda Broken At The Nashim B'Tmuna (Women in the Picture) Rehovot's International Women's Film Festival
"Of the 23 directors competing at the Venice Film Festival, which ended over the weekend, only two were women. At the most recent Cannes Film Festival, the situation was not much better: Women directed only three of 20 films in the official competition. Women directed only two of the 20 films at the Berlin Film Festival, which was held in February. And yet both won the top prizes at the festival: Jasmila Zbanic, a Bosnian, won first prize for her film "Grbavica," and Pernille Fischer Christensen won the Judges' Panel award for "Soap," a Swedish-Danish production.
The status of women in the world's three most important film festivals is not very different from less illustrious film-related events. The status of women in world film is pretty bad. No woman has ever won the Oscar for best director. Only three were nominated for this prestigious prize - Lina Wertmuller in 1977 for her film "Seven Beauties," Jane Campion in 1994 for "The Piano" and Sofia Coppola in 2004 for "Lost in Tokyo."
In general, the United States is an excellent example of the sad situation facing women directors: In 2004 only 5 percent of the 250 most profitable films of the year were directed by women; 12 percent were written by women; 16 percent were edited by women and only 3 percent were filmed by women. In 2005, women directed 7 percent of the most profitable films, wrote screenplays for 11 percent of them, edited 16 percent of them and filmed only 3 percent of them.
In the rest of the world - except for France where women direct some 25 percent of films each year thanks to film funding guidelines - the situation is much the same. In Denmark, for example, only one of 31 dramas screened last year was created by a woman. And in Israel, women directed only four of some 40 films produced in the last two years. This year so far, only one woman director - Dina Zvi Riklis - has directed a drama. For her movie, "Three Mothers," she has been nominated for the Ophir Prize, the Israel Academy of Film's annual award; winners will be announced tomorrow.
The same male agenda
Today, the Nashim B'Tmuna (Women in the Picture) International Women's Film Festival opens in Rehovot, and its objective is to change this situation. Even director Michal Aviad, who serves as the festival's artistic consultant and has vast experience as an artist and as a lecturer at Tel Aviv University's department of film, has not managed to find any clear answers on this matter. "Even where I teach, I'm the only female lecturer in the applied program - who has a part-time position," she says. "Moreover, I've been teaching for over 15 years and in most cases the breakdown of students by gender is 60 percent male, 40 percent female and sometimes it's 50-50, but after a few years, after they start working and creating, the overwhelming majority are men."
Like other female filmmakers who prefer the documentary genre to drama, Aviad also made her name in the former. She directed films that dealt with Israeli subject matter from a feminine perspective. "Jenny and Jenny," her very popular film, dealt with culture in the periphery through the perspective of two enchanting young women; "Lev Ha'aretz," featured three Israeli communities in Ramle through the lives of the women there; and her latest film, "Layeladim Sheli," focused on a mother who tells her children about their family's history in response to the question of whether Israel is the last stop.
"None of my films addressed questions that the women's magazines refer to as 'feminine questions,'" says Aviad. "I make films about the things that interest all of us here, but from a different perspective, based on the argument that male-female relationships also influence the culture in which we live."
Aviad has won a grant to develop a screenplay for her first drama. "It may be that because of my femininity I didn't dare do a drama until now," she says. "Perhaps I'm also functioning within those same unconscious structures: like a woman who is afraid to direct a large number of people."
In her eyes, as in the eyes of many, the fact that only one of the five film fund directors in Israel is a woman - Ziv Naveh manages the Gesher Fund - is a problem. "However," notes Aviad, "the fact that a woman can become a fund manager, with the same male agenda, does not help. There are women who are also bound by the same images and think that our lives as women are less important or interesting than the world of men. By the same token, there could also be a woman film fund director who thinks a soldier in the battlefield is more interesting than the mother waiting at home for him."
The third Jenny
"The Secret Life of Words," directed by Isabel Coixet, which won the best film prize at the Spanish Film Academy's Goya Awards, will open the film festival tonight. The star of the film is a mysterious woman - played by Sarah Polley - who arrives on an oil drilling ship that has only male workers on board. She becomes friendly with a man who lost his vision - played by Tim Robbins - and the two develop a relationship in which each conceals essential details from the past.
During the four days of the festival, numerous films will be shown, including Israeli films, which have already been shown at other Israeli festivals and even on TV. And yet, for Aviad, the screening of these films in a feminine framework is important, as it will facilitate watching them from a different perspective. "The Cemetery Club," by Tali Shemesh, "Metamorphosis," directed by Netali Baron and "Red Fields," directed by Ayelet Heller will also be screened.
Aviad recommends four other films worth seeing. One is "Under the Ice," a German film directed by Aelrun Goette, which deals with a mother's urge to protect her children. At the focus of the film is Jenny, whose 6-year-old son is involved in the death of his friend.
Another recommended film is "A Working Mom," directed by the Israeli director Limor Pinhasov Kaftori. The documentary follows Marisa, a Bolivian woman, who in 1990, at the age of 22, leaves her two children and comes to work in Israel. Some 15 years later, she returns to her country in the hope of reuniting with her children whom she supported from a distance throughout the years, but they receive her with indifference and even hostility.
Aviad also recommends "Stolen Life" directed by Li Shaohong - a Chinese director to whom the festival is making a gesture. The film is about a young woman who grows up in Beijing and is raised by her tough aunt and grandmother. She is accepted to university, full of dreams of self-fulfillment, but meets a man, moves in with him, gets pregnant and has to quit her studies. Also recommended is the American film, "How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer," directed by Georgina Garcia Riedel. This film tells the tale of three women from a Mexican-American family - a grandmother, daughter and granddaughter. "
Source: Goel Pinto. Still out of Focus. Haaretz.com (14 September 2006) [FulText]
The status of women in the world's three most important film festivals is not very different from less illustrious film-related events. The status of women in world film is pretty bad. No woman has ever won the Oscar for best director. Only three were nominated for this prestigious prize - Lina Wertmuller in 1977 for her film "Seven Beauties," Jane Campion in 1994 for "The Piano" and Sofia Coppola in 2004 for "Lost in Tokyo."
In general, the United States is an excellent example of the sad situation facing women directors: In 2004 only 5 percent of the 250 most profitable films of the year were directed by women; 12 percent were written by women; 16 percent were edited by women and only 3 percent were filmed by women. In 2005, women directed 7 percent of the most profitable films, wrote screenplays for 11 percent of them, edited 16 percent of them and filmed only 3 percent of them.
In the rest of the world - except for France where women direct some 25 percent of films each year thanks to film funding guidelines - the situation is much the same. In Denmark, for example, only one of 31 dramas screened last year was created by a woman. And in Israel, women directed only four of some 40 films produced in the last two years. This year so far, only one woman director - Dina Zvi Riklis - has directed a drama. For her movie, "Three Mothers," she has been nominated for the Ophir Prize, the Israel Academy of Film's annual award; winners will be announced tomorrow.
The same male agenda
Today, the Nashim B'Tmuna (Women in the Picture) International Women's Film Festival opens in Rehovot, and its objective is to change this situation. Even director Michal Aviad, who serves as the festival's artistic consultant and has vast experience as an artist and as a lecturer at Tel Aviv University's department of film, has not managed to find any clear answers on this matter. "Even where I teach, I'm the only female lecturer in the applied program - who has a part-time position," she says. "Moreover, I've been teaching for over 15 years and in most cases the breakdown of students by gender is 60 percent male, 40 percent female and sometimes it's 50-50, but after a few years, after they start working and creating, the overwhelming majority are men."
Like other female filmmakers who prefer the documentary genre to drama, Aviad also made her name in the former. She directed films that dealt with Israeli subject matter from a feminine perspective. "Jenny and Jenny," her very popular film, dealt with culture in the periphery through the perspective of two enchanting young women; "Lev Ha'aretz," featured three Israeli communities in Ramle through the lives of the women there; and her latest film, "Layeladim Sheli," focused on a mother who tells her children about their family's history in response to the question of whether Israel is the last stop.
"None of my films addressed questions that the women's magazines refer to as 'feminine questions,'" says Aviad. "I make films about the things that interest all of us here, but from a different perspective, based on the argument that male-female relationships also influence the culture in which we live."
Aviad has won a grant to develop a screenplay for her first drama. "It may be that because of my femininity I didn't dare do a drama until now," she says. "Perhaps I'm also functioning within those same unconscious structures: like a woman who is afraid to direct a large number of people."
In her eyes, as in the eyes of many, the fact that only one of the five film fund directors in Israel is a woman - Ziv Naveh manages the Gesher Fund - is a problem. "However," notes Aviad, "the fact that a woman can become a fund manager, with the same male agenda, does not help. There are women who are also bound by the same images and think that our lives as women are less important or interesting than the world of men. By the same token, there could also be a woman film fund director who thinks a soldier in the battlefield is more interesting than the mother waiting at home for him."
The third Jenny
"The Secret Life of Words," directed by Isabel Coixet, which won the best film prize at the Spanish Film Academy's Goya Awards, will open the film festival tonight. The star of the film is a mysterious woman - played by Sarah Polley - who arrives on an oil drilling ship that has only male workers on board. She becomes friendly with a man who lost his vision - played by Tim Robbins - and the two develop a relationship in which each conceals essential details from the past.
During the four days of the festival, numerous films will be shown, including Israeli films, which have already been shown at other Israeli festivals and even on TV. And yet, for Aviad, the screening of these films in a feminine framework is important, as it will facilitate watching them from a different perspective. "The Cemetery Club," by Tali Shemesh, "Metamorphosis," directed by Netali Baron and "Red Fields," directed by Ayelet Heller will also be screened.
Aviad recommends four other films worth seeing. One is "Under the Ice," a German film directed by Aelrun Goette, which deals with a mother's urge to protect her children. At the focus of the film is Jenny, whose 6-year-old son is involved in the death of his friend.
Another recommended film is "A Working Mom," directed by the Israeli director Limor Pinhasov Kaftori. The documentary follows Marisa, a Bolivian woman, who in 1990, at the age of 22, leaves her two children and comes to work in Israel. Some 15 years later, she returns to her country in the hope of reuniting with her children whom she supported from a distance throughout the years, but they receive her with indifference and even hostility.
Aviad also recommends "Stolen Life" directed by Li Shaohong - a Chinese director to whom the festival is making a gesture. The film is about a young woman who grows up in Beijing and is raised by her tough aunt and grandmother. She is accepted to university, full of dreams of self-fulfillment, but meets a man, moves in with him, gets pregnant and has to quit her studies. Also recommended is the American film, "How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer," directed by Georgina Garcia Riedel. This film tells the tale of three women from a Mexican-American family - a grandmother, daughter and granddaughter. "
Source: Goel Pinto. Still out of Focus. Haaretz.com (14 September 2006) [FulText]
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