No Women Directors at Cannes Again - Petition

Please click here to see this email online with a translation option. No Women-Directed Films at Cannes - Please Sign the Petition Below Twenty-two films will be showcased at the Cannes Film Festival this year, but not one of them is directed by a woman. A group of French feminist activists known as La Barbe issued a manifesto protesting the lack of women directors at Cannes, and now our colleague Melissa Silverstein, founder of Women and Hollywood, has put together a petition in English directed to the jurors of the Cannes Film Festival expressing our outrage at the lack of women directors in the competition and the male-dominated selection process.  The petition calls for transparency in the film selection process and for an industry-wide discussion about the continuing problem of lack of opportunities for women directors working at the highest level of the business. The petition was launched on Wednesday afternoon with over 170 people signing initially including many prominent women in film.  Over 1,100 people have signed so far including women artists and arts organizations from all over the world.  Please sign the petition and encourage your friends to do so too. You can read the petition below.  If you want to sign it, please go to: https://www.change.org/petitions/cannes-film-festival-where-are-the-women-directors Thanks so much! Martha Richards Executive Director, WomenArts _______________________________________ Petition To the Jurors of the Cannes Film Festival: You will spend the next 11 days watching 22 films that the programmers and leaders of the Cannes Film Festival deemed to be the worthiest of this year's competition. The Cannes Film Festival is one of the most prestigious festivals in the world.  Festival Films including last year's Oscar winner The Artist have gone on to have long and successful lives, and filmmakers' careers have been launched on the Croisette.  As we all know, the opportunities to have your film seen on a world stage is invaluable. For the 2012 edition, as with the 2010 edition, there are NO FEMALE DIRECTED FILMS in competition, and in the 64 years of the Festival only one woman -- Jane Campion -- has been awarded the Palme D'Or. Festival director Thierry Fremaux responded to the recent manifesto from La Barbe - a French feminist action group - which decried the lack of women by saying:  "I select work on the basis of it actual qualities. We would never agree to select a film that doesn’t deserve it on the basis it was made by a woman…There is no doubt that greater space needs to be given to women within cinema. But it’s not at Cannes and in the month of May that this question needs to be raised, but rather all year and everywhere." We call for Cannes, and other film festivals worldwide to commit to transparency and equality in the selection process of these films. We judge films as human beings, shaped by our own perspectives and experiences. It is vital, therefore, that there be equality and diversity at the point of selection. Mr. Fremaux is correct in stating that women's rights must be addressed year round.  We, the undersigned, encourage an industry-wide discussion about this issue, and call on the leaders throughout the industry to participate in and contribute to a dialogue about how we can, to quote Mr. Fremaux, "create a greater space for women within cinema." Signed Melissa Silverstein, Women and Hollywood Gloria Steinem Robin Morgan The Sisterhood is Global Institute Julie Burton, The Women's Media Center Debra Zimmerman, Women Make Movies Gayle Nachlis, Women in Film Terry Lawler, New York Women in Film and Television Martha Richards, WomenArts Jan Lisa Huttner, The Hot Pink Pen Julie Parker Benello, Chicken & Egg Pictures Abigail E. Disney, Fork Films Sue Parrish, Sphinx Theatre Company, London Julie Janata, Alliance of Women Directors Kristin Marting, League of Professional Theatre Women Paula Alves, Femina - International Women's Film Festival, Rio de Janeiro The Women in the Picture Association – Israel The International Women's Film Festival Rehovot, Israel Petrina D'Rozario, Women in Film India Cheryl Eagan-Donovan, Women in Film New England Eileen Hoeter, Vancouver Women in Film Antonella Estevez, FEMCINE, Chile's Women Film Festival Paula Alves, Femina - International Women's Film Festival, Rio de Janeiro WIFT, Sweden IWFF - Dortmund/Cologne Lynn Hershman Leeson, Hotwire Productions Susi Newborn, WIFT New Zealand  Martin Blankemeyer, Munich Film Society Gillian Armstrong, Director Marion Rosenberg, Women in Film Board (LA) Nancy Rae Stone, Women in Film Finishing Fund (LA) Lisa Noonan, Australian Screen Directors Authorship Collecting Society Ariel Dougherty, Co-Founder, Women Make Movies Ladies Lounge - Australian Women Cinematographers Plus many others that you can see when you view the petition at: https://www.change.org/petitions/cannes-film-festival-where-are-the-women-directors Quick Links Be A Part of SWAN Day! News & Reviews Find Funding Build Your Skills Support WomenArts Join Our Mailing List Contact Us      Theatre Women Feature Martha Richards in Blog30 WomenArts Executive Director Martha Richards As part of its 30th Anniversary celebration this year, The League of Professional Theatre Women has created Blog30, which features a brief interview with a different League member every day.  WomenArts Executive Director Martha Richards is one of the featured members this week.  You can read her interview by clicking here>> The League is dedicated to increasing visibility and promoting opportunities for women in theatre. They are celebrating their anniversary with a variety of activities designed to acknowledge those who have played a major role in the Leagues' success and to launch the next 30 years. In addition to Blog30, they are producing 30 new plays by women over the course of the year; they are publishing a special expanded version of Women in Theatre magazine; they did an Oral History Exhibit at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; and they are hosting celebrations of legendary women in theatre and doing other community outreach. For a list of all their events, please click here>> We are especially grateful to the League for their excellent work in documenting women theatre artists over the years.  They have done a series of half-hour television interviews with leading women theatre artists, and if you go to their Women In Theatre AV Room, you can now watch 13 of those interviews online or purchase them on a DVD. They have also compiled a great list of links to articles about women in theatre in the Articles & Links section of their website. Congratulations to all of our colleagues at the League of Professional Theatre Women on 30 years of groundbreaking work! Thanks so much to all of the women who have worked so hard for so many years in the ongoing struggle for gender equity in theatre. Special Thanks WomenArts is supported this year by generous grants from the Nathan Cummings Foundation, Art Happens, The Sister Fund, the Harnisch Foundation, HEW Foundation, Northern Trust Charitable Giving, Do A Little, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, the PatsyLu Fund of the Open Meadows Foundation, Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, California Community Foundation, and by gifts of time, energy and money from artists and arts supporters around the world.  About WomenArts WomenArts (formerly known as The Fund for Women Artists) is a community of artists and allies dedicated to celebrating and supporting art by and about women. For an overview of our programs and services, please see the About Us section of our website. If you are receiving this letter from a friend and would like to join our mailing list, please click here to subscribe. To unsubscribe, please click here to unsubscribe.