As part of International Women’s Week, Dr. Shelley Cobb and Prof Linda Ruth Williams will present the research that they have done on women in the UK film industry and their project Calling the Shots. This event will take place at 16:30 – 17:30 on Thursday 12 March 2015 in Building 13, room 3021, Highfield Campus.
At film school, the gender balance is close to 50/50, but this stops when women move into the workforce. The Annual Celluloid Ceiling Report (San Diego State University) shows us that women make-up 20-25% of producers, around 15% of directors, about 10% of editors and less than 5% cinematographers in the top 300 grossing films of each year.
These numbers put into stark light the public recognition of women filmmakers like Jane Campion (the first female Palme d’Or winner for her 1993 film The Piano), Phyllida Lloyd (Mama Mia) and Kathryn Bigelow (the first female winner of the Best Directing Oscar).
Whilst much of the research that does exist on women working behind the scenes in the film industry is focused on Hollywood, Calling the Shots is a four-year project that is researching women’s involvement in the UK film industry since 2000.
Book your place for this session on our Eventbrite page. You can find out more about Shelley and Linda’s research, funded by a £590k grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), on the departmental website.
This event is organised by Film in conjunction with Diversity as part of International Women’s Week.