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Woman with a Movie Camera Summit 2019 at BFI Southbank

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Time 13:00
Date 22/06/19
Price £20

A day of rousing talks and playful events reframing the conversation around gender equality in the screen industries.

In the second edition of the Woman With a Movie Camera Summit - the centrepiece event dedicated to women in film - BFI welcome filmmakers, academics, scholars, activists, writers, critics, artists, programmers and audiences to explore this notion with us and, hopefully, propel the conversation further.

Expect interviews with filmmakers and practitioners, live panel discussions, talks and events taking over every screen, room, nook and cranny of the BFI Southbank.

Come and join the action - and together, reframe the conversation around gender equality in the screen industries.

Programme (Check back here for programme updates)

NFT2

Post #TimesUp
NFT2
12:30 - 13:30

It’s been over a year since the online anti-harassment campaign #MeToo broke into the mainstream (despite being created in 2007). A widespread conversation was started and actions were taken. A year on, we ask our panel of speakers: what actions have been taken and where do we take it from here?

Female Authorship
NFT2
14:00 - 15:00

The question of authorship in film is deep, complicated and often ends in heated debate. There is much scholarly work on who is the true author of a film text, or if there even is one. With women often not being in the director’s seat, this panel discussion will debate whether we should allow other versions of female authorship to come into play and allow space to recognise female creative contributions to cinema outside of the director’s chair.

Let’s Talk About Thirst
NFT2
15:30 - 16:30

Thirst is female desire, and this year it’s created a - pardon the pun - heated debate in the critical community about female desire onscreen, and what it means for women (critics, audiences, fans) to openly lust after screen actors and characters. Presented by film critic and writer Christina Newland, who has lead this conversation in the UK, we explore what lust at the movies means for female critics and audiences alike.

Speaker: Christina Newland @christinalefou

Diva Directors
NFT2
17:00 - 18:00

When does a director get labelled a ‘diva’ and what are the industrial and cultural repercussions of this? Is there an expectation for female directors to be ‘nice’ to avoid this gendered labelling? Writer and programmer Miriam Bale goes through what a director has traditionally been allowed to look and behave like, and how the set of expectations placed on women directors is inherently different and difficult.

Speaker: Miriam Bale @mimbale

 

NFT3

Not All Superheroes Wear Skirts
NFT3
12:20 - 13:20

From Wonder Woman to Captain Marvel, female representation in mainstream is just as important as in the arthouse world. These badass super-heroines are more-than-often written by men, but their widespread appeal to female audiences is not to be sniffed at. They matter, and the gaze of their female fans matters even more. In this talk, writer Helen O’Hara traces back the shifting representation and the importance of superheroines.

Speaker: Helen O’Hara @HelenLOHara

Lethal Lesbians and Bad Bisexuals
NFT3
13:50 - 14:50

Ever since the earliest days of silent cinema, the big and small screen has been fascinated - some might say obsessed - with queer women who kill, kidnap, maim, blackmail or torture. Moving from 1990s psycho dyke dramas like Basic Instinct, which caused outrage in the queer community, to more recent and celebrated portrayals in Lizzie and Killing Eve, in a reprise of her popular talk from BFI Flare, Festival programmer Emma Smart takes a not-entirely-serious look at these deadly onscreen stereotypes and asks that ever important question: Why do we love them so much?

Speaker: Emma Smart @smartlibrari

My Not-So-Big Break
NFT3
15:30 - 16:30

What does ‘making it’ mean in the screen industries? Making one film, two, or ten? Making money or winning awards? In this panel discussion, we talk with directors, writers and actors about what expectations are placed on the so-called ‘big break’, and how to deal with the industry’s idea of success.

Speakers: Deborah Haywood @blytheface, Alana Hutton-Show, Kristie Swain @thekirstieswain
Hosted by Rhianna Dhillon @RhiannaDhillon

There’s Something About Janelle
NFT3
16:50 - 17:50

Singer, actor, designer, artist, icon. To try to define Janelle Monáe is to set oneself up for failure. In this talk, super-fan and writer Grace Barber-Plentie explores the imagery and iconography of Janelle Monáe, how she’s used moving image in her work and transitioned into an award-nominated actor, why she occupies such a unique place in popular culture (amidst a movement of black female musicians using moving image) and why she just might be the feminist hero we all need.

Speaker: Grace Barber-Plentie @gracesimone

 

STUDIO

Lady Business
Studio
12:30 - 13:30

There’s been a surge of film companies focused on making, distributing and promoting female-made and female-fronted work. In this panel discussion with some of the producers, distributors and marketeers behind this, we will talk about the pros and cons of branding your company as such, and the business that makes film flourish.

Adapting Animals
Studio
13:50 - 14:50

Adapting a successful book for screen is a challenge - adapting your own successful book for screen is a whole new level. In this conversation, we go in-depth on the creative process of writer Emma Jane Unsworth into adapting her own novel into a film. Animals, directed by Sophie Hyde and starring Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat, centres on the intense friendship of two 30-something women as they navigate booze, boyfriends, wild nights and blurry mornings. After its European premiere at Sundance Film Festival: London in June, Animals will be hitting UK cinemas on 2 August.

Speaker: Emma Jane Unsworth @emjaneunsworth
Hosted by Sophie Monks Kaufman @sopharsogood

Defining Cinematic Tropes
Studio
15:30 - 16:30

There are tropes, stereotypes and archetypes that apply to female characters onscreen. Some of them well-defined and studied, some of them still being traced. In this dynamic panel discussion, we will go through a list of the roles that women have been shoe-horned into, and the ones that are yet to be defined.

Speakers: Arifa Akbar @Arifa_Akbar, Melanie Hoyes @melhoyes, Rebecca Nicole Williams @sorceressoffilm

Reframing Film History
Studio
17:00 - 18:00

Erasure from film history (or any history in general) is easy, sometimes deliberate, sometimes accidental, but there is a reason why certain aesthetics, certain stories and certain points-of-view have ruled the texts that have informed course curriculums, canons, and taste for decades. In this illustrated talk, academic Kathi Kamleitner looks into the how and the why behind certain names not making it into the history books.

Speaker: Kathi Kamleitner

 

BLUE ROOM

Combatting the Manosphere
Blue Room
12:30 - 13:30

In this talk, Glitch founder, Seyi Akiwowo, will discuss the micro and macro iterations of online harassment, how it affects women of different communities in different ways, and some of the mechanisms that can be used to protect oneself (and others).

Speaker: Seyi Akiwowo @seyiakiwowo, @GlitchUK_

Memefication of Feminism
Blue Room
14:00 - 15:00

Meme culture is inextricable from fourth wave feminism, and pop culture. Little White Lies Associate Editor, Hannah Woodhead, will go from Beyoncé gifs to Insta-inspo to #girlpower meme slogans, this talk will explore the context in which memes are used to provide viral inspiration, how a new generation of film fans are connecting with cinema through meme culture - and how they’re being used for more commercial purposes. Much feminism. So girl power. Very woke.

Speaker: Hannah Woodhead @goodjobliz

WITCiH Salon
Blue Room
15:30 - 18:30

WITCiH (Women in Technology Creative Industries Hub) is an inclusive platform supporting womxn in tech that aims to explore & expand our knowledge of women working at that intersection between science, technology and the arts- past, present & future. Founded and directed by interdisciplinary musician/artist/perfomer BISHI, WITCiH is an online & real world platform for ideas, research, performance, creation & networking. For this year’s Summit, we present a special edition of the WITCiH Salon, with speakers on AR, VR, Games and interactive media.

Speakers: Phoenix Perry @phoenixperry, Leslie Deere @LeslieDeere, Laura Kriefman @elfkay

 

FOYER

Short Film Corner
Foyer
12:00 - 18:00

Whenever you fancy a break in between sessions, enter BFI Foyer to explore a selection of shorts that reframe femininity, in all its dynamic, complicated, messy and sometimes hilariously gross complexity.

Films:
Mothering (Dir. Lucy Bridger); Constellations (Dir. Anna Maguire); Girls don’t poo (Dir. Molly Denton); Hairy (Dir. Megan Domaille & Jack Powley); Absent Wound (Dir. Maryam Tafakory); Future First (Dir. Naomi Grant); Mercury (Dir. Kyla Simone Bruce); Blood Activist (Dir. Rebecca Brand).

Feminist Flash Tattoo Parlour
Foyer
12:00 - 16:00

Take a seat in our feminist tattoo parlour. Choose your temporary ink from our specially curated flash card, with 6 new designs by illustrator and tattooist Sophie Mo that celebrate classic female characters from the screen. This workshop is an original idea and hosted This Must Be For You, an organisation who leave anonymous gifts for strangers to find.
@MustBeForYou
sophiemo.com

Grrl Zine Library
Foyer
12:00 - 18:00

Grrrl Zine Fair harnesses the values of intersectional feminism and DIY culture to showcase work created by women, non-binary, Trans and queer people throughout self-publishing, contemporary art and music. Transforming the BFI foyer, browse the Grrrl Zine Library and learn about the history of zine making and its importance as a political tool, a self-care ritual and a documentation of feminist culture.
@grrrlzinefair
grrrlzinefair.com

Varda by Agnès
All day - Foyer

In advance of the BFI’s release of the last film by revered director Agnès Varda, we pay tribute to one of the greatest visual storytellers that ever lived with an installation that lets you sit in the director’s chair. Varda by Agnès will be in cinemas from 19 July.

 

MEZZANINE

Pop up Nail Salon
Mezzanine
12:00 - 17:00

Standing for much more than glossy manicures, come to this pop-up salon and get nail art with attitude. Celebrity nail technician Izabelle Bellamy will be offering Quick Fix Manicures, with a dash of nail art inspired by today’s powerful women, for a special rate of £10.
@IzabelleBellamy

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COMPETITION: Win 1x pair of tickets to attend Woman with a Movie Camera Summit 2019 at BFI Southbank at 12:00 on Saturday 22 June. To enter the competition, send an email to vienna@run-riot.com with the correct answer in the ‘subject’ line. The winner will be randomly selected.

Q: Out of the following, which British cinematographer became the first female director of photography for a major studio film and the first female to became a member of the American Society of Cinematographers Guild?
A: .1) Rachel Morrison .2) Brianne Murphy .3) Nancy Schreiber .4) Laura Bayley

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