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Kidd, Briony: Australian female film directors

Kidd, Briony

Reading between the credits for Australian women directors‘, SBS Movies, 14 July 2015

Asks why women film-makers are consistently overlooked in Australian cinema. Examines possible answers to this question, looks at some history, discusses the work of many female auteurs, and calls on industry ‘gatekeepers’ to become more inclusive. There are links to many other resources.

[Kim Farrant, director of Strangerland] doesn’t hold back, telling the story of how she was encouraged to dress more “like a man” to be taken seriously at pitch meetings, but refused. “I hope that at a certain point funding bodies and studios see that you don’t have to be male and wearing a pair of pants and be masculine to be able to lead a movie.” What’s required now is more straight-talking, until claims of a meritocracy, or about the different aptitudes of women filmmakers (that they’re not as ambitious, that they don’t like big movies or genre movies, to name but a few) can no longer be made with a straight face.