If you like movies and free stuff, then I highly recommend taking a stroll down King St. West during the opening weekend of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). For that first weekend in September, King St. is blocked off between St. Andrew Station and Spadina, allowing festival attendees to visit sponsors’ booths, such as the AirFrance pop-up restaurant or the McCafe truck that gives out free coffees. This year, as you make your way from St. Andrew Station, it is impossible to miss the display of standing posters of female filmmakers like Deepa Mehta and Omoni Oboli, showcasing TIFF’s new movement “#ShareHerJourney.”
One of these posters reminds onlookers that in 2016, only 7% of the top 250 films were directed by women, and, in the top 100 films, only 29% of protagonists were women, while female characters only accounted for 32% of speaking roles. It’s no question that women need to be better represented on-screen, but there is also a dire need for representation behind the camera. The last woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for Directing was Kathryn Bigelow in 2009 for The Hurt Locker. Bigelow is one of only four women to be nominated for directing in the Academy Awards’ 89-year-run, and the only woman to win. As The Hollywood Reporter points out, that makes the female to male winner ratio 1:88. And as horrible as this may seem, the numbers plummet even lower when you look specifically at queer and trans women, and women of colour. If you are interested in gender inequality in film, I recommend that you read the Comprehensive Annenberg Report on Diversity in Entertainment produced at USC, as it thoroughly explores how women are represented on-screen as compared to their male counterparts.
According to TIFF’s website, #ShareHerJourney is “a five-year commitment to increasing participation, skills, and opportunities for women behind and in front of the camera.” So far, TIFF has ensured that 29% of the films at the 2017 festival were directed by women and have ensured that 50% of the spots in their Talent Development initiatives are awarded to women. TIFF also has a detailed plan for “mak[ing] this ambitious movement a reality,” including starting a speaker series about gender inequality in film and launching a residency for a female artist. Additionally, any donations made to the #ShareHerJourney initiative will be matched by Betty-Ann Heggie and Anne-Marie Canning. If you’re interested in donating, or just want to learn more, you can check out their website here: http://www.tiff.net/shareherjourney/
I witnessed a slice of progress firsthand when I attended TIFF 2017. I saw five films; Les Redoubtable, Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman, My Days of Mercy, Lady Bird, and Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri. Of these films, three were directed by women. Professor Marston was written and directed by Angela Robinson, a queer woman of colour who has also written and directed for shows like The L Word and True Blood. Lady Bird was written and directed by the actress Greta Gerwig in her filmmaking debut. And, finally, My Days of Mercy was directed by Tali Shalom-Ezer, a gay Israeli woman. I was also very impressed by the genuine and beautiful stories of the women I saw on screen. Professor Marston presents the polyamorous relationship between the creator of the Wonder Woman comics, William Marston, his wife, Elizabeth, and Olive Byrne in a loving and heartwarming way. Lady Bird (which was so well-received at the festival that they had to put on an additional showing) focuses on a high school senior and her relationship with her mother. My Days of Mercy follows Ellen Page as Lucy, a young woman whose father is on death row, falling in love with Kate Mara’s Mercy, who is on the opposite side of her cause. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (winner of the 2017 Audience Award) stars the amazing Frances McDormand as Mildred Hayes, a tough-as-nails mother trying to get her daughter’s murder case solved. Even Les Redoubtable, which I would argue is the least feminist of the films I saw, was based on the memoir of Jean-Luc Godard’s second wife, Anne Wiazemsky.
Even after the 2017 festival comes to end, TIFF’s commitment to showcasing women’s stories and female filmmakers is not over, as they continue the #ShareHerJourney initiative. Additionally, they are presenting “Sofia Coppola: A Name of Her Own” from December 8th to 17th at the TIFF Lightbox Theatre. It appears that other Canadian companies are attempting to rectify the glaring imbalances in media as well. For example, if you are an aspiring female or minority filmmaker, you can now apply for the CBC Breaking Barriers Fund at their website; http://www.cbc.ca/breakingbarriers/. These two companies also came together to create the $10,000 TIFF-CBC Diverse Screenwriters Grant, although applications closed in August. TIFF’s #ShareHerJourney ambassadors and initiatives not only inspire me as a female filmmaker, but this truly Canadian movement as a whole makes me proud to be a Torontonian.