Where are the female directors in European films? : data mapping report with policy recommendations based on findings and best practice.

The aim of the project is to contribute to raising awareness on the issue of gender inequality in the European film sector and to support the case for urgent action as well as to propose best practice measures.

Given the vast amount of work and current absence of data in Europe, this report begins by looking at the situation through a selection of countries with diverse socio-political contexts, of different sizes and in different geographical regions.

The main objectives of the project are to:

Build knowledge and increase understanding of existing data gathering and monitoring processes on gender equality in the European audiovisual sector at film school and industry level;

Analyse existing data (and where not available try to access data) on the evolution of female writers and directors in the industry, by looking at participation of both sexes in principle film schools and subsequent performance in national industry as presented in national public funding data

Assess the impact of pro-equality measures and positive discrimination strategies at national level to substantiate information pertaining to examples of best practice;

Strengthen the capacity of relevant national institutions to gather and monitor gender equality in the audiovisual sector;

Prepare conclusions and recommendations, which can be used to improve gender balance at pan-European and national levels for female writers and directors and suggest best practice measures which can be adopted by film funds and other public bodies.

Title: Where are the female directors in European films? Data mapping report with policy recommendations, based on findings and best practice

Participating countries: Austria, Croatia, France, Italy, Sweden and the UK.

Duration of project: November 2014 – September 2015

Stage 1 – Elaboration of national reports and qualitative survey: November 2014 - April 2015

Stage 2 – Presentation of first findings: May 2015, Cannes Film Festival (TBC)

Stage 3 – Drafting of final report and dissemination June - September 2015

If possible we will report on the first findings of the study at Cannes 2015 and then after the final report has been drafted it will be disseminated though a series of national events from September 2015 onwards, including at key festivals, e.g. Venice Film Festival and the London Film Festival.

Sector: Gender equality in the European film sector

Implementing organisation: European Women’s Audiovisual Network (EWA Network)