RED & SWOON EVENT: Women & Film

SWOON NYC and RED Digital Cinema teamed up for a curated event bringing together Women & Film.

 

For years, film consumers have been equally divided male and female, yet gender equality in film industry has not changed. From late 1990s till now, less than one-fifth of top 250 films in the U.S. include female directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers and editors. Women tend to direct lower budgeted / grossing productions than men.

Female empowerment is crucial in the film industry because females are hired more frequently when there are female directors. In female directed films, there are 52% writers, 35% editors, 26% cinematographers while in male directed films, there are only 8% female writers, 15% editors, and 5% cinematographers. Across all boards, only 10% of the film industry employs more than 5, 28% employ 3-5, 23% employ two, and 38% employ zero to one females.

Thematically, there are more female documentary than narrative filmmakers. In narrative films, women are more likely to direct drama and animations than action, horror and sci-fi. In all films, less than about one-tenth of protagonists are female.

Panelists:

Kristina Sorge, Director & Producer

Roxy Toporowych, Director

Nilou Safinya, Producer

Jendra Jarnagin, Cinematographer

Julia Zhou, Creative Producer at Big Spaceship