Great news for all of you film fans out there as Dublin is set to play host to a new festival! The Feminist Film Festival will take place on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st August in the New Theatre, 43 Essex Street, Templebar.
The festival will be Ireland’s first independent, stand-alone, weekender ‘Feminist Film Festival’ (as far as the organisers can discern!), and is aiming to help counteract the mis/under representation of women in film by giving women who work in the film industry the exposure and credit they deserve. The festival will also provide an alternative to the all-too-often two dimensional and stereotypical characters seen on screens, with some real and exciting portrayals of female traits.
The festival is a totally independent event and ALL profits from the festival will go to Sasane, a non-profit charity organisation in Nepal run by and for victims of sex trafficking. Sasane provides women with education, support and training. The Feminist Film Festival‘s founder Karla Healion visited this charity in Nepal when travelling Asia recently and was blown away by this group of amazing women, who not only survived horrific experiences of sex trafficking and violence but have now set up this organisation that trains, educates and supports other women who need help.
Speaking about the festival, director Karla Healion had this to say “The aim of The Feminist Film Festival is first and foremost to raise money for a fantastic and inspiring charity called Sasane who do incredible work in Nepal with victims of horrific sex trafficking and gender violence. By using something like this to raise money it means that we can celebrate women’s rights and female empowerment trans-nationally and remind ourselves that gender equality is still not quite a reality.”
“We also hope, in terms of cinema, to help counteract the mis/under representation of women in film. This means we will support and promote films where women have played a vital role in a film’s making to help inspire others to get involved in film making and production. We would also like to counteract the mis-representation of women portrayed through stereotypical female characters. And, of course, to also bring the perspectives, stories and experiences of women, feminists and women-identified people to a wider audience through film in an inclusive and friendly event”, she continued.
The Feminist Film Festival wants to provide a platform for short films that encompass, express, illustrate or open discourse around feminist principles and women’s experiences. All kinds of shorts and all kinds of subject matter are welcome. The Festival is asking filmmakers to send a Youtube link (or similar), which can be private if they wish, of their short and 100-150 words about why they feel it should be screened to info@feministfilmfestivaldublin.com. All shorts must be 5-15 minutes long and the deadline for submissions is 5pm Wednesday, July 30th.
The Feminist Film Festival will take place on Saturday August 30th, from 12-5pm and on Sunday August 31st, from 12-9pm, at The New Theatre, 43 Essex St, Temple Bar, Dublin 2.
For more info check out the festivals website, Facebook, and Twitter.