Introducing…
Hello and welcome to Women to Watch, a monthly blog supporting women in the screen industry!
What to expect? Here I will be making recommendations for content created by women, focusing on the screen industry. Mostly it will be film and TV suggestions but you will also find off-screen recommendations including books, articles, or podcasts on the subject I’m discussing, or women-driven content in general. It will be a mix of contemporary sources and retrospectives.
Why start this? I get asked for film-viewing suggestions… a lot. Sometimes from my closest friends, people I work with, audiences, and my employers, and I also often hear from people who are keen for more content outside of the cis-white hetero-male bubble, but not sure where to start. While things are certainly changing within the film industry & its ‘canon’, focus can easily (and often does) drift into repeatedly praising the Scorceses, Tarantinos, and Wes Andersons of modern screen culture.
This makes actively seeking out alternative content a choice; one that means bypassing the ‘movies you must see before you die’ lists, which will often simply be a slideshow of the same men. And as someone passionate about seeking out and sharing the great work done by women, it makes me so very happy to share my thoughts.
Go on… I was also called to arms by the final sections of Helen O’Hara’s excellent book Women vs Hollywood: The Fall and Rise of Women in Film.
The book is an overview of the history of Hollywood, with the view to foregrounding how participation by (primarily) women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and disability communities has changed over time.
It's a refreshing change from the male-centered auteur/canon director narrative and goes a long way in exploring how the structural challenges that women face in the industry today - in front of & behind the camera, and in writing, programming and beyond - are historic and have been deeply structurally ingrained since almost the beginning of cinema.
It is of course very US-focused but easy to see the relevance to our local Australian industry both then and now (while our Cate Shortland does get mentioned, I was surprised the McDonagh sisters weren't!).
In particular, I was struck by the final few chapters, as they more closely related to the areas of the industry I am based, where she clearly maps out how these ingrained systems that keep men up the top and women struggling to get a second film made actually filter through every level, including which films get reviewed, who are the respected reviewers, and in turn the way film festivals and cinemas are programmed, who these jobs are primarily done by, and how this all keeps the same cycle going. Exhausting!
It’s not as simple as just supporting more women in the making of film (which we should), we need to attack from all angles. Buy tickets to women-led films at the cinema, purchase and read their books, support their podcast Patreon, recommend content to your friends… and create the content ourselves.
“Every step forward matters.”
So here we are! I hope I can help you discover some awesome new content, or pieces you might have missed in the past. Some weeks I’ll tackle those questions around feminism and sexism in the industry, and some weeks I’ll just suggest you go watch Wayne’s World. Seriously, go watch Wayne’s World, it’s the best.
I’ll end by saying that I am a cis-white woman, so that is the perspective I bring. I’m working at being a good ally, and continually improving my understanding and support of communities that I am not a part of, and want to help support and amplify those voices. I am trying hard to ensure my language and content is inclusive, but I welcome feedback on any ways that I can make this site more inclusive, welcoming, and supportive of LGBTQIA+, Disability, First Nations, and CaLD communities. We can always all be doing better.
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Thanks for your interest, I hope you enjoy!
