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Venice Days: Diversity and Italian Film

EWA Members at the Venice Film Festival

La Mostra di Venezia has arrived. Several EWA members will be actively present at the Lido this year.
First, we want to congratulate EWA member, Paula Vaccaro, the producer of Kusturica’s "On the Milky Road" , selected in the official competition. Well done Paula!
After last year’s presentation of the highlights of EWA’s pan-European research, the festival keeps encouraging the debate on gender equality and diversity, despite the scarcity of women directors in the Official competition (just 7.5%, Ana Lily Amirpour’s "The Bad Batch" and Martina Parenti as co-director of "Spira Mirabilis"). Venice Days selection is doing much better.
The festival offers several gender-centered conferences. EWA member Patrizia Fregonese will take part in the panel of the one on "Italian Cinema and Diversity: an Invisible Priority" and EWA’s study "Where are Women Directors in European Films" will be the core of the conference organised by 100Autori and Doc/it on Women authorship in films (see the programme below).
-"IL CINEMA ITALIANO E LE DIVERSITÀ: UNA PRIORITÀ  INVISIBILE?" will take place on Tuesday, September 6 at 11 a.m., in the garden of the Villa degli Autori. Organized by ANAC and #peruncinemadiverso in a joint collaboration with Venice Days.
How are the many facets of diversity portrayed on the big screen, and reflected in Italy’s audiovisual industry? How are the myriad identities concerning gender, ethnic group, religion, ability and disability, legal status, social milieu and all the other "differences" represented? Is the ‘cultural exception’ referred to in the European Commission programs really safeguarded, as the European directives would have it? Does Italy’s audiovisual output and programming guarantee pluralism and inclusion?
Film professionals and experts in this field meet to discuss how to design diversity policies that involve not just the issues but also the players, and compare notes on the awareness and promotion of diversity and the inherent opportunities it offers today.
Moderated by: Umberto Marino, the speakers include:
Francesco Ranieri Martinotti (president of ANAC), Patrizia Fregonese (EWA NETWORK), Leonardo De Franceschi (Università Roma Tre), Bruno Torri (SNCCI), Laura Delli Colli (SNGCI), Deborah Young (film critic), Antonio Falduto (professor at  UNINT Università), Steve Della Casa (film critic),  Cecilia Ermini (Mostra Internazionale del Nuovo Cinema di Pesaro), Giulia Grassilli (Human Rights Nights), Paolo Masini (MiBACT), Nadia Kibout (actress and director), as well as a number of filmmakers attending the Venice Film Festival.
-Direzione donna. L’autorialità femminile. DWA - Doc/it Women Award.
September 3rd. 17h Hotel Excelsior - Spazio Fondazione Ente dello Spettacolo

A year has already gone by since the publication of the gender equality study promoted by European Women’s Audiovisual Network (EWA), in collaboration with MiBACT. That study showed that, up to now, the audiovisual industry has failed to fully support the careers of Europe’s women filmmakers so they can realize their potential, and films made by women struggle to reach audiences. According to the study, in Italy in particular, no more than roughly ten percent of all films are made by female directors.

For this reason, 100autori decided to organize a conference to examine the reasons why Italy is lagging behind other European countries, and brainstorm new measures to support female creativity on the part of the government, cultural institutions and the film industry.

Just before the conference gets underway, the awards ceremony for the DWA - Doc/it Women Award will be held. This award promoted by Doc/it honors the creativity and entrepreneurial skills of women in the film industry, and aims to promote documentary filmmaking by women, on the one hand, and gender equality in both the creative sphere and on the production end.

The conference organized by 100autori and moderated by Cinzia Masòtina will feature guest speakers Agnese Fontana and Stefania Casini, president and vice president respectively of Doc/it. Other speakers include Marina Spada, filmmaker and teacher at the Civica Scuola di Cinema Luchino Visconti in Milan; Antonietta De Lillo, filmmaker and winner of a Special 2016 Silver Ribbon for experimentation and lifetime achievement; and Irene Dionisio, director and writer of Le ultime cose, the Italian film selected for the 31st edition of the International Critics’ Week, as well as other women filmmakers competing in different festival sections.