Sundance 2011 is over. The week started off with the NY Times article declaring that Sundance is a welcoming place for women directors, and it ended with a couple of women getting deals and awards. But let’s be real, the women still don’t get the deals the guys get.
Variety has a list of reported “significant deals” from Sundance. They list 27 deals. Five of those deals are for films directed by women (including one where the women is a co-director.) And there was another deal made for Hot Coffee since the Variety list was compiled.
So that’s a total of 6 films out of 27. That’s 22%. And if I had to bet I would say that none of the women got as big a payday for their film as did some of the guys.
While there might be a more welcoming environment for women directors at Sundance, the lacks of deal for women is emblematic of the general problems women directors face.
Here are the deals for the women filmmakers:
Circumstance — Maryam Keshavarz
Buck — Cindy Meehl
Pariah — Dee Rees
The Future — Miranda July
Silent House — Chris Kentis and Laura Lau
Susan Saldoff — Hot Coffee (doc) (new announcement since the Variety list was created.)
Award Winners
The World Cinema Jury Prize: Happy, Happy (Sykt Lykkelig), directed by Anne Sewitsky
The Audience Award: Documentary — Buck, directed by Cindy Meehl
The Audience Award: Dramatic — Circumstance, directed and written by Maryam Keshavarz
The Best of NEXT!: Audience Award — to.get.her, directed and written by Erica Dunton
A Special Jury Prize: Documentary — BEING ELMO: A Puppeteer’s Journey, directed by Constance Marks, an inspirational film that crosses cultures and generations
A Special Jury Prize: Dramatic — Another Earth directed by Mike Cahill; written by Mike Cahill and Brit Marling.
A Special Jury Prize: Dramatic — Felicity Jones for her role in Like Crazy.
