Cannes, Venice, and Toronto were among the many film festivals to sign the 5050×2020 charter for gender parity and inclusion in 2018. It looks like more fests will commit to the initiative in 2019. Goteborg Film Festival has announced that it will sign the Pledge during its 42nd edition, set to run January 25-February 3. Variety confirmed the news. And there’s more to celebrate: Forty-one percent of the films screening this year are women-directed, according to Goteborg’s artistic director, Jonas Holmberg.
Introduced at Cannes last year, the Pledge is a way to hold fests accountable as they work towards full gender parity. By signing the document, festival signatories promise to gather stats according to the filmmakers’ gender, identify the fest members who select films to screen, and develop a schedule to achieve equality on the festival board. The Pledge was created by 5050×2020, an offshoot of Le Deuxième Regard.
“We’re always been committed to gender equality and diversity in all aspects, which is why our selection encompasses movies from 83 countries,” said Holmberg. “We want to highlight many different artistic and political perspectives and promote new voices.”
Miia Tervo’s “Aurora” will open Goteborg 2019. A romantic comedy about a Finnish woman and Iranian man who meet at a hot dog stand and change each other’s lives, the pic marks Tervo’s feature debut. Other women-directed offerings include “Endzeit,” a post-apocalyptic zombie story from Carolina Hellsgård, and “Blind Spot,” Tuva Novotny’s acclaimed portrait of a family dealing with a mental health crisis.
