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Title and acronym: Women in the Film Industry [WIFI] Project type: Erasmus+ KA2 Project, Strategic Partnership for Vocational Education and Training Ref. no.: 2020-1-UK01-KA202-079201
Promoter /Coordinator: Creative Exchange UK Limited (CEX), UK Duration: 01/11/2020 to 31/10/2022 Total project grant: 277543 Euro Total expenditure (grant) for the University of Pitești: 24309 Euro Local coordinator for the University of Piteşti: Assoc. Professor Dr. Eng. Dumitru Chirlesan
Within the film industry, gender inequalities relating to biased representation and pay are arguably systemic and pervasive, according to Ivana Katsarova, in a briefing to the European Parliament in 2018. Between 2012 and 2016 just 19.6% of films were directed by women. In addition, Katsarova points out, roles that are traditionally associated with women, such as editing and costume design, are seeing a female over-representation while women are under-represented in areas such as sound, image and music.
For over a decade the European Parliament has consistently encouraged the dissemination of films directed by women while the European Commission now measures the participation of women in key roles of projects receiving support under Creative Europe’s Media strand. Sweden leads the field in national regulatory policies and this has resulted in critical acclaim being achieved by Swedish female filmmakers over of the past decade.
The representation of women in film projects can be gauged by a test known as the Bechdel or Bechdel-Wallace test. A film passes the test if it features at least two women talking about something other than a man. Every Star Wars movie, the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy and all but one of the Harry Potter movies fail the test.
Gender bias has been shown to begin with the script. A 2017 research piece sampled 1000 scripts and showed that male characters had over 37,000 pieces of dialogue compared to just 15,000 for females. There were also 4,900 male characters as opposed to 2,000 female. This was hardly surprising when one considers that male scriptwriters were found to outnumber female by 7-1.
There is a real recognition across Europe of the inequality with in the film industry and a genuine desire to remove this historical, entrenched bias. For young women, with an eye to a future within the industry, it is crucial that equality is embedded into their reality. There are a number of issues that need to be addressed to encourage and copper fasten the resolve of women to tear through the celluloid ceiling. The Women in Film Industry (WIFILM) project seeks to address a number of issues highlighted by women in film themselves as being major contributing factors to their low representation in this industry sector which has an annual global budget of in excess of 100 billion dollars.
WIFILM will develop a curriculum comprising 5 short-form 'taster' courses that outline the key administrative, creative and technical roles and positions in the film production process; a case study library of successful women in film will be developed for use as an active guidance resource; an in-service training programme will be developed for VET tutors; and a WIFILM MOOC and Community of Practice.
Objectives: The Women in Film Industry (WIFILM) project seeks to address a number of issues highlighted by women in film themselves as being major contributing factors to their low representation in this industry sector which has an annual global budget of in excess of 100 billion dollars. The overall aim of the project is to produce new pedagogic practices that impact VET provision by supporting flexible and sector specific learning through new digital learning tools.
Outcomes: IO1: WIFILM ACT Curriculum IO2: WIFILM Case Study Library IO3: In-service Training IO4: WIFILM MOOC & Community of Practice
Partnership:
Project website: www.wifilm.eu
The film produced by the participants at the WIFI LTTA, 11-15 July 2022 in Virginia, Ireland
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