The Department of Media & Communication Studies at Mary Immaculate College (MIC) is set to tackle the issue of gender inequality in the Irish film industry through its hosting of a day-long colloquium entitled “Women in the Irish Film Industry: Moving from the Margins to the Centre”.
The event will take place in Mary Immaculate College on Friday 4th March and will, according to event organiser Dr Susan Liddy, Lecturer in Media & Communications, MIC, provide a public forum in which to address the under-representation of women in the Irish film industry. Practitioners, representatives from funding bodies, broadcasters, professional guilds and voluntary organisations will debate strategies to create gender equality right across the industry and will according to Dr Rosemary Day, Head of Media & Communication, MIC, “have the opportunity to map out a clear strategy to ensure gender equity within the Irish film industry going forward”.
There has been much public debate of late in relation to the under-representation of women working in Irish theatre which lead to the formation of the #WakingTheFeminists movement. However, according to Dr Liddy “This exclusion is not the exclusive preserve of the theatre. It is also mirrored in the Irish Film Industry, which is overwhelmingly male-dominated and lacking a strong female voice and vision. My own research suggests a mere 13 per cent of produced screenplays in the period 1993 to 2013 were written by Irish women”.
The keynote at the colloquium will be delivered by Anna Serner, Director of theSwedish Film Institute, who will speak about the 50/50 gender funding policy implemented in Sweden under her tenure. Since she took up the position in October 2011, Serner has reached her stated intent of distributing state funds equally between male and female filmmakers making Sweden the first country to reach this benchmark.
Other speakers include James Hickey (Irish Film Board CEO), Dr Annie Doona (Acting Chair of the Irish Film Board/President IADT) and Holly Aylett Head Researcher with the European Women’s Audio Visual Network. In November of 2015 Dr Doona, as Acting Chair of the IFB, issued a public statement acknowledging “there are many talented women writers, producers, directors, cinematographers, editors, actors, animators and designers out there that are not fully represented either in terms of accessing funding for film or in public recognition of their talent”. This was followed in December by the IFB’s Gender Equality Six Point Plan, which sets out an agenda to address the existing gender imbalance.
[quote title=”Dr Susan Liddy”]There are ways and means to address the current imbalance and the time to do it is now.[/quote]
Women in the Irish Film Industry: Moving from the Margins to the Centre takes place in TARA, Mary Immaculate College, Friday March 4th @ 9.30am. Early Bird booking fee of €15 includes lunch. (Full fee €25) Booking is essential as places are limited. For further information or to pre-book contact Dr. Susan Liddy: Susan.Liddy@mic.ul.ie
This event is kindly supported by Innovate Limerick.