WOMEN FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT.

Woman are beginning to make a dent in the all too male populated film industry, or are they?.  Can we do it? Do we have the right energy? We definitely have the imagination.  In the past females were given incredible opportunities and made films beautifully. My favourite female director, Liliana Calvani  with The Night Porter made in 1974, dark, erotic, and sick, then there was  Lena Wertmuller with Swept Away.  Funny though that these women were Italian and it is now forty years ago? We seem in many ways to go backwards.

 Sofia Coppola, and the only Palme d'or winner, and head of this years Cannes  Film Festival, Jane Campion, are busy forging their way through the very male dominated profession.  With the prettiness of model Cara Delevingne and the strong willed Sharon Stone and huge star Nicole Kidman, women are  seen as sex symbols, shining stars, of course, as long as they are attractive, brilliant or young?.

This year  though let's be honest only two films out of eighteen were  chosen at The 67th Cannes  FF, were actually directed by women, despite the predominately female jury starring Jane Campion, actress Carole Bouquet, Female American director Sofia Coppola , Actor Jeon Do-yeon and actor Leila Hatami. The two films by female directors that made it through were  Le Meraviglie by Alice Rohrwacher and Futatsume No Mado by Japanese director Naomi Kawase. So who chooses the films? Men?   Does it matter.? Well, yes it does, because without a fairer distribution to the female population we will rebel. Why are there no American Female Directors chosen, where is Lynn Ramsey? I loved "It's all about Kevin"  Why is Jane Campion not directing a film at this second, instead of running the jury, or may be she is? Where are the female film directors? Where is Sally Potter, another of my favourites?  There is so much more to do. With problems for women all over the world we need to battle on with our message. (Good luck lovely Sam Taylor Wood with those  Fifty  Shades of Grey. If Liliana Calvani can  make her film and it should be brilliant).

Two years ago when I decided to make my film, my ex husband was teasing me, as you may remember, that I could not do it, which made me more determined to make one.  Never having made a film before. I did my best to encourage the brave people who watched my film,to  sit up and listen to another woman's story.  Not that mine is the best story, but The gun the cake and the butterfly  it should be counted. It is now being sold at Cannes and I feel very proud, that I actually achieved so much with so little experience. Despite it winning 7 awards in smaller more exclusive festivals, it did not get into Cannes. This was a lesson in itself, it can be sold there, but it did not get in. Brave festivals, that gave me a chance, are run throughout America.  Roberto Rizzo's NYCIFF,  loves women; The new media film festival run by  Susan Johnstone, loves them too.  Melody Storm  from the Bel Air FF full supports the female population and the Ischian Film and Music Festival run by Pascal Vicedomini, only thinks of supporting women, so why is Cannes still prejudiced?
Of course they see my film as a Vanity project. Indeed it is,  Anything that anybody does well is essentially based on one of the  seven deadly  sins" Vanity". I believe you cannot do anything well unless it is based on this sin. People get paid lots of money to be vain otherwise you would have another job than show business. The luckiest people I have found are the hardest working. So with this in mind I happily ventured out of my box and did my story.

When women are fighting to have an education let alone anything else, surely the film industry should help them reflect this?. Has it all got to be kitchen sink drama, people getting executed to win?. A film should after all, be  the conscience opener to the viewer?

JANE CAMPION WITH MICHAEL NYMAN

Women were always powerful, It is why the men of the Middle East cover them up, it is why the film world use them to advertise the film rather than make them, however they use their looks and not necessarily their intelligence. This is my point.
So with semi support I suggest you female film makers pick up a camera and tell your story follow your instinct and just "DO" You only do not succeed if you don't do it.
Girls next year, fight for what you believe in. Make your films on whatever budget you can and prove you have it. One day it won't matter to the men in power, they will be forced to accept you.
Congratulations Emy Sebagh on making your first film, Think Normal.


Checked out the Rich List
P.S If you feel accomplished just being rich, well done you have your cash register, but next to Bill Gates you are probably poor. The men look as if they are cab drivers, in fact the cab driver looks better.
Definitely the chirpy chappy at the flower market is going to be much more attractive.
You need no money at all to be sexy, horny, at loveable.
The wicked queen never becomes the happy one. I am just being a girl.

FULL OF DREAMS

My life is full of dreams. I am sitting here on my balcony, where my film, which I wrote, directed and produced, The gun the cake and the butterfly, is about to be shown tonight at The Ischia Global Film Festival. It is run by the energetic Pascal Vicedomini, I am thinking.  He is a visionary, with caterpillar vision, he assembles talent wit passion, creating a totally unique experience where everyone gladly supports each other.

“ Wow, how lucky am I,  I think?” How on earth did all this happen in a year? The truth is Pascal is instinctive, and what he likes he likes, he and the other film festivals have truly supported me.

He creates panels that discuss International issues and concerts on the beach, everything is done with joy and aplomb. Fireworks abound. I am about to win the Lina Wertmullerprize, in remembrance of her husband, Enrico Jobb, she is the first, out of only four women, to be nominated for an Academy Award.

This festival is very different. 

Cannes and Venice are huge, tricky to manouvre and full of clipboard doormen who  won’t allow you in. Thousands of people flock to festivals, crowded, hot and glamorous.

Ischia is about family, a talented family, involving friendship.

Yes I am right, with my thoughts  “What you are doing, is what you are doing. This has always been   my belief , and I am with one of my favourite actresses of all time Natasha Kinski,(The best author in the whole planet for me is Thomas Hardy, and Tess was my favourite heroine) she played her so well,  and  French actress Emanuelle Segnier. Who is showing her film Venus and Fur directed by husband Roman Polanski, her husband’s new film.

I keep pinching myself. I am following my passion.

Everybody is relaxed. 1950’s distressed glamour. Ischia is not Capri and it’s not Rome. The famous introduce themselves, as if you could not possibly know them. There is something very charming about this. You cannot lobby to be a part of Pascal’s Film Festivals, you have to be anointed to participate.

I have been included in four festivals now, The New Media Film Festival, The New York International Film Festival and have just been selected for the Bel Air Film Festival. The Ischia Global Film Festival, and Have won, “The most imaginative documentary film” in NY. I feel very chuffed. I think, “yes I did this, as a woman for women”.  I thought, I cannot be one of the Kardashian’s who wear ‘strap on’s’ before 9.30 am in Los Angeles, I could only be me.

I thought, I would pinch lines wherever I could, when writing, instead of snorting them.  I could not be one of those people who did  not have a line on their face and only under their nose.

The only people that have ever thought I was a star were London taxi drivers. I enter a cab on the streets of London and the first question they ask is “ What films have you been in, are you a model?”  I never know what to answer?, I do not want to disappoint the charming man driving me.  However, the truth is, that despite drama school ALRA and RADA, I liked to be hidden. My eldest son says however, “A blonde has unfair advantages over the rest of the planet, and you Mummy, can never hide”  

We know through film you can influence the world. Through pictures music and thought, you can change what is going on. I think we can all give back and choose our own platforms, inspiring communities to think. After doing this film I want to do this forever.

Last year women were moaning that there were too few serious positions held in the film world by women. Few films were made by them.   I thought I would have a go. I thought I would learn and expand from the experience. Indeed I did.  I thought I would use my own story, I could be blatantly honest, cruelly so. I had no intention of acting it but combining the script with a documentary to create the artistic world I inhabit so merrily. I enjoyed the focus,

I thought I would be finished in three weeks.

I was not.

The first edit I thought was nothing like me and that I had to be in it. So I decided at that point to intertwine my characteristics with the other actress Justine Glenton and with the actors I involved.

I don’t care about failure, I care about doing and being open and vulnerable to the world, I have put myself out there and I expect ‘judgement day’, but I am proud about what I have accomplished and how I feel, despite, having  to sell my favourite house to do it. Nobody gave me a dime, it was all me, for good and bad.

The story of my upbringing in Wiltshire to being tapped on the shoulder and realizing I have just contributed to the wonderful world of female film directors. Katherine Bigelow, Lyn Ramsey, Madonna, Jane Campion, Vanessa Redgrave, Kerry and Rory Kennedy, Barbara Streisand, my favourites Sofia Coppola and Sally Potter. They are bold and strong, having the faith to follow their own voices against all odds.

Now it’s my turn, I have entered stage right and I have no exit. I am addicted to the critics and the applause.