What’s 100 Days of Women in Film?
Starting tomorrow – April 7, 2020 – I will take part in #the100DayProject, an initiative that has thousands of participants from around the world. The premise is simple: each person selects a creative project they’d like to do every day for 100 days… and each day they create something and share it online, using the hashtag #the100DayProject. It could be an illustration a day, a blog entry, a photograph… there are no rules, as each creator has full control over what they make.
My 100 Day Project? 100 Days of Women in Film: a series of blog posts that will put the spotlight on a different woman in film (from directors to screenwriters, cinematographers, editors, composers and producers) every day for 100 days, starting on April 7, 2020.
Why make 100 Days of Women in Film?
#1: Because female filmmakers are still woefully underrepresented and underestimated (not to mention severely underpaid). According to a recent report by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the world of film is seeing “improvement towards inclusion […] but more work needs to be done.” And I would like to be a part of the solution and celebrate (and make more visible) the work of women in film. To quote director Jane Campion:
I would love to see more women directors because they represent half of the population – and gave birth to the whole world. Without them writing and being directors, the rest of us are not going to know the whole story.
#2: Because we can all use a distraction from the anxiety of the COVID-19 lockdown… hopefully I can manage to distract you for at least 5 minutes a day, bringing you stories of inspiring women filmmakers and recommendations of films to watch (which could provide a longer, much needed diversion from the headlines).
#3: Because this project motivates me to research and unearth stories of women in film that I may not be familiar with – and share them with you. For instance, do you know who was the first Italian female director? I have to admit, I only found out about her a month ago, thanks to a contact on Twitter. I had spent 2 YEARS making daily GIFs of female directors and I can easily name dozens of female filmmakers… but I didn’t know who was the first director from my homeland! I look forward to sharing her story with you… and making you discover more inspiring women in film that you might not have heard of.
How can you follow 100 Days of Women in Film?
The official account of #the100DayProject encourages people to share their work on Instagram. Well, I deleted my Instagram (and all my other social media accounts that are operated by Facebook) a while ago and I have no intention of re-activating them. Why? The short answer is surveillance capitalism… and you can read more about my motivations on The Realists blog (my new film project).
Instead, I plan on sharing 100 Days of Women in film:
- on this page: “100 Days of Women in Film”
- on Twitter (using the hashtag #100DaysofWomeninFilm)
- and also via my newsletter – so if you sign up, you can get new posts conveniently delivered straight to your inbox
See you tomorrow!
– Elena
