This year’s edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is still about two months away, but the fest is already introducing Share Her Journey, a program that will spotlight women in film from now until the end of TIFF 2017. Share Her Journey is the beginning of TIFF’s five-year plan to “grow its Talent Development programs with female-forward programming to increase participation, skills, and opportunities for women behind and in front of the camera,” a press release details.
This long-term commitment to gender diversity will include the introduction of gender equity initiatives, a three-month residency program, a producers’ accelerator program, speaker series, and “comprehensive resources” for educators on the topic of women’s representation in film. All of these offerings are designed to “champion diversity of gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and physical and cognitive ability.”
TIFF has also brought on women in the film industry to participate as Ambassadors for Share Her Journey events. Actress and “Okafor’s Law” director Omoni Oboli will serve as Ambassador as will shorts filmmaker and TIFF award-winner Carol Nguyen (“How Do You Pronounce Pho?”), “Manufactured Landscapes” director and documentarian Jennifer Baichwal, and Deepa Mehta, whose feminist drama “Water” received an Oscar nod for Best Foreign Language Film.
“Inclusion, accessibility, and diversity are central to our work at TIFF. We acknowledge that gender inequity is systemic in the screen industries, so change has to happen at every level. That includes getting more women into key creative roles,” stated Cameron Bailey, TIFF Artistic Director.
“We plan to seek out, develop, and showcase top female talent in the industry through our Festival and year-round initiatives,” Bailey continued. Our mission is to transform the way people see the world through film. One of the most powerful ways to do that is to foreground the perspectives of women.”
The past year has seen Canada leading the charge for gender equality in the film industry. Canada’s Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) initiative launched an online directory of its filmmakers in May. The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television introduced an apprenticeship program for female directors, and the National Film Board of Canada expanded its gender-equity plan by advocating for more women cinematographers, composers, and screenwriters in March.
In November Telefilm Canada, the country’s biggest film financier, introduced measures to ensure half of the movies it finances will now be directed or written by women. And the public broadcaster CBC announced last summer that at least half of the episodes of its popular scripted programs like “Murdoch Mysteries” and “Heartland” will be directed by women.
Fundraising for Share Her Journey begins tonight with a screening of Ida Lupino’s “Outrage,” which follows a young woman in the aftermath of an assault. For more information about the Share Her Journey campaign, go to TIFF’s website.
TIFF 2017 will take place September 7–17 in Toronto, Ontario.
