"This volume, Shaping Global Cultures through Screenwriting: Women Who Write Our Worlds, tells stories of women who have worked with and within communities to bring the communities’ stories to life through screenwriting. In gathering these examples, we asked for stories that achieved some level
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of impact for the communities. Impact was considered across a number of indices. We wanted to show that attitudes have shifted, policies have been rewritten and the life experiences and ranges of possibility for some have changed for the better as a result of women’s work. We hope to show through our stories that film can change lives; that sharing stories matters; and that women are everywhere, using their skills in screen production for the good of many.
In her excellent book, Women in the International Film Industry: Policy Practice and Power, Susan Liddy (2020) offers ‘a wide-ranging, critical assessment of practice, policy and progress’ to establish the range and scale of gender inequality that currently exists in the world of screen production. She quotes O’Neill and Domingo (2015) to point out that social, economic and political conditions vary, and ‘combine in different ways to enable or constrain women’s agency and leadership’ in screen production (Liddy 2020: 1). In contrast, our book approaches the same problem from the opposite perspective: we seek to correlate the ‘policy, practice and power’ (Liddy 2020) with the actual work of women screenwriters. Our aim is to point out what women screenwriters, creators and filmmakers are doing in disparate corners of the world, and how their effort is positively impacting communities, shaping culture and creating change.
We argue that, despite the fact that women screenwriters are underrepresented in leadership roles in film industries worldwide, the impact of their films remains visible and palpable. We provide evidence that, as women step into the roles of screenwriter, filmmaker and collaborator, using known and emerging technologies, formats and genres under the broad scope of ‘screen production’, they raise the voices of other women and other communities. This volume shows the impact of women’s voices in creating real change for the communities whose stories are told through the topics and themes of these women’s screen works. Not least, this volume seeks to celebrate these women and their communities and bring awareness of that impact to broader communities worldwide." (Introduction, page 1)
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"This report examines the Israeli film industry from the perspective of gender. Over the past twenty years, there has been a growing involvement of women in the Israeli film industry. Since the establishment of Israel and up until the year 2000, women directed a mere 7% of screened Israeli narrative
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features. However, as shown in this report, over the last two decades this gap has been growing smaller, and the ratio of films directed by women between 2013 and 2018 stands at 21%. With that said, the positive change in the growing numbers of female-directed narrative features is not reflected in some of the film-related professions, and the gender-inequality within the Israeli film industry is still quite large. In recent years, a few reports and research papers have examined the evident gender-inequality in the allocation of budgets as well as in the gender-biased division of labor in the film industry of the Western-world. However, such research regarding the Israeli film industry hasn’t been published to date. This report joins existing research, allowing a comparison between gender-related aspects of the Israeli film industry and equivalent industries worldwide." (Introduction, page 5)
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"Viele Filme aus Ländern in Afrika, Asien und Lateinamerika befassen sich phantasievoll mit gesellschaftlichen Fragen. Unter welchen Bedingungen arbeiten Regisseurinnen in Algerien, Marokko und Tunesien? Warum sind afrikanische Religionen und Riten ein Thema im jungen nigerianischen Kino? Und wie g
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eht ein indonesischer Regisseur mit Drohungen religiöser Fanatiker um?" (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"The range of actions that social partners and audiovisual stakeholders can take to improve gender equality and diversity is broad. From ambitious strategies and plans to smaller-scale initiatives that have a direct impact on the organisation of work. The good practices presented in this report have
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proven their efficiency. The lessons learned from their implementation can serve as inspiration, if not reference, in other national contexts. The high value of the regular production of statistics and qualitative analyses of the levels of representation of women and other under-represented groups on screens and in the audiovisual workforce has been demonstrated. It is particularly important to monitor developments and assess the impact of actions. Social partners and sector stakeholders, with the support of public institutions, have a joint interest to work together towards a more systematic approach to the collection of European-level gender data. Specific tools and funds also need to be made available to audiovisual stakeholders to help them implement concrete initiatives that promote equality and diversity in their workplaces, on sets and in studios, and in relation to their audiences." (Conclusions, page 69)
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"Existing accounts of Myanmar’s film industry available to English speakers are more than twenty years out of date. Opening with a brief overview of cinema in Myanmar since 2000, this article is based on a recent visit to the Myanmar Motion Picture Development Department and the Yangon Film School
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, on conversations with staff, students and alumnae of these institutions and of the National University of Arts and Culture, and with local independent filmmakers. The purpose of my visit was to begin the groundwork needed to answer basic questions: Who are the women making films in Myanmar today? Where are they trained? What are the conditions in which they work? What kind of films they make? How do they fund production? How do their films circulate? And finally: Is there a women’s cinema in Myanmar? What follows thus outlines the context in which women in Myanmar make films today and introduces the work of a small number of them. I conclude with reflections on three short films: A Million Threads (2006, by Thu Thu Shein), Now I am 13 (2013, by Shin Daewe), and Seeds of Sadness (2018, by Thae Zar Chi Khaing), two of which can be found online." (Abstract)
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"In spite of harsh censorship, conservative morals and a lack of investment, women documentarists in the Arab world have found ways to subtly negotiate dissidence in their films, something that is becoming more apparent since the ‘Arab Revolutions’. In this book, Stefanie Van de Peer traces the
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very beginnings of Arab women making documentaries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), from the 1970s and 1980s in Egypt and Lebanon, to the 1990s and 2000s in Morocco and Syria." (Publisher description)
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"Despite the repressive power of the current regime the immense creativity of popular cultural practices, that negotiate and resist a repressive system, is a potent and dynamic force. This book draws on the expertise and experience of Iranian and international academics and activists to address dive
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rse areas of social and cultural innovation that are driving change and progress. While religious conservatism remains the creed of the establishment, this volume uncovers an underground world of new technology, media and entertainment that speaks to women seeking a greater public role and a restless younger generation that organises and engages with global trends online." (Publisher description)
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"Latin American women filmmakers have achieved unprecedented international prominence in recent years. Notably political in their approach, figures such as Lucrecia Martel, Claudia Llosa and Bertha Navarro have created innovative and often challenging films, enjoying global acclaim from critics and
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festival audiences alike. They undeniably mark a 'moment' for Latin American cinema. Bringing together distinguished scholars in the field - and prefaced by B. Ruby Rich - this is a much-needed account and analysis of the rise of female-led film in Latin America. Chapters detail the collaboration that characterises Latin American women's filmmaking - in many ways distinct from the largely 'Third Cinema' auteurism from the region - as well as the transnational production contexts, unique aesthetics and socio-political landscape of the key industry figures. Through close attention to the particular features of national film cultures, from women's documentary filmmaking in Chile to comedic critique in Brazil, and from US Latina screen culture to the burgeoning popularity of Peruvian film, this timely study demonstrates the remarkable possibilities for film in the region. This book will allow scholars and students of Latin American cinema and culture, as well as industry professionals, a deeper understanding of the emergence and impact of the filmmakers and their work, which has particular relevance for contemporary debates on feminism." (Publisher description)
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"The contributions in this volume address a variety of geographical and cultural contexts through an analysis of cinema, from the representation of women and Islam in Middle Eastern film, and female audience reception in Nigeria, to changing class and race norms in Bollywood dance sequences. The boo
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k includes a special focus on women directors in a global context, examining films and filmmakers from Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. Alongside a comprehensive overview of feminist perspectives on genre, this collection also offers discussion on a range of approaches to spectatorship, reception studies, and fandom, as well as transnational approaches to star studies and the relationship between feminist film theory and new media. Other topics include queer and trans* cinema, ecocinema, the post-human, and the methodological dimensions of feminist film history." (Publisher description)
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"Gaze Regimes is a bricolage of essays and interviews showcasing the experiences of women working in film, either directly as practitioners or in other areas such as curators, festival programme directors or fundraisers. It does not shy away from questioning the relations of power in the practice of
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filmmaking and the power invested in the gaze itself. Who is looking and who is being looked at, who is telling women’s stories in Africa and what governs the mechanics of making those films on the continent? The interviews with film practitioners such as Tsitsi Dangarembga, Taghreed Elsanhouri, Jihan El-Tahri, Anita Khanna, Isabel Noronhe, Arya Lalloo and Shannon Walsh demonstrate the contradictory points of departure of women in film – from their understanding of feminisms in relation to lived-experiences and the realpolitik of women working as cultural practitioners." (Publisher description)
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"Lisa Marie Gadatsch liefert mit dieser Künstlermonographie eine erste umfassende Studie des filmischen Gesamtwerks der indisch-amerikanischen Regisseurin Mira Nair. Nairs Filme changieren zwischen Arthousekino, Hollywood und Weltkino und reflektieren den vielschichtigen kulturellen Hintergrund der
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Ausnahmeregisseurin. Die Autorin stellt die kulturellen Kontraste, Referenzen und Ambivalenzen als integralen Bestandteil Nairs postkolonialer Filmkunst heraus und erkennt in ihrem Kino eine transkulturelle Filmpoesie, die paradigmatisch für eine Generation junger und global inspirierter Filmschaffender ist." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Is today’s changing media landscape in the Middle East empowering women? This is the first book to address the dynamics of media ecology and women’s advancement in the contemporary Middle East. The book spans both the region and media forms, from Iran’s women’s press, via Maghrebi women fil
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mmakers and Egyptian political films, Palestinian TV and Hezbollah’s TV station, Al-Manar. It takes as its starting point the diverse experiencees and multi-layered identities of women and treats media institutions and practices as part of wider power relations in society. By analysing media production, consumption and texts, it reveals where and how gender boundaries have been erected or crossed." (Publisher description)
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"Emphasizing post-independent films released since the 1950s and the burgeoning commercial film production of the last decade, Focus on African Films provides unique and pluralistic perspectives on filmmaking throughout Africa. As a whole, the collection highlights the distinct thematic, stylistic,
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and socioeconomic circumstances of African filmmaking. Individual essays show how conditions in Africa have generated a broad range of views and techniques, from the stylistically innovative documentaries of Jean-Marie Teno and Abderrahmane Sissako and the "documentary fiction" of Mahamat-Saleh Haroun to the vibrant art films of Jean-Pierre Bekolo and the new films from South Africa. Contributors also outline the direction of increasingly popular, less didactic sub-Saharan filmmaking in films such as Daniel Kamwa's Pousse-Pousse, Ngangura Mweze's La vie est belle, and Imungu Ivanga's Dôlé." (Publisher description)
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"Conjunto de entrevistas -y biofilmografías- con destacadas directoras mexicanas (María Novaro, Busi Cortés, Dana Rotberg, Eva López-Sánchez y Guita Schyfter), además de otras dos con Alfredo Joskowicz y Hugo Hiriart." (Descripción de la casa editorial)
"During International Women's Year in 1975 one of the problems studied was the role of women vis-a-vis the media. This slim book approaches the problem eclectically: Part I. "Inquiry on Participation of Women in Radio, Television and Film in Four Countries (Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and Unit
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ed States)" by Jerzy Toeplitz, Director of the Australian Film and Television School, and Part II. "Women in Cinema," the account of a symposium in which women film workers from many different countries exchanged views on practical and theoretical considerations." (Eleanor Blum, Frances G. Wilhoit: Mass media bibliography. 3rd ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990 Nr. 845)
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