“I’m not afraid to say, ‘I don’t know,’” says Leslie Hope, director of TV and docs, in a trailer for “Seeing Is Believing: Women Direct.” “I’m also not afraid to say, ‘This is what I want…Can you please make it the way I want? Because, by the way, I’m the director.’” Hope is one of the characters featured in Cady McClain’s upcoming documentary, which turns the camera on female filmmakers and interviews them about their career experiences, their goals, and the roadblocks they have encountered as women in the film industry.
The full feature doc version of “Seeing Is Believing” made its world premiere at the SOHO Film Festival on June 19 and took home the Audience Award. McClain’s project, which was partially a crowdfunding effort, has been presented in many forms. In addition to the feature documentary version, the subjects’ commentary has been developed as a limited series and as individual interviews. McClain and her team are also writing a book from their conversations with directors like Hope (“Murdoch Mysteries”), Deborah Riley Draper (“Olympic Pride, American Prejudice”), Lesli Linka Glatter (“Homeland”), Marianna Palka (“Bitch”), Sarah Gavron (“Suffragette”), and Meera Menon (“Equity”).
“I am really excited about the audience reaction to this piece and thrilled that we just won the Audience Award at the SOHO Film Festival. Viewers of the piece always tell me that they are inspired after watching it, which to me is a major win,” McClain told us. “The statistics and stories of how women are silenced are too many, and it makes me really happy to give something to them that will help them feel there is a way forward, and that there is hope.”
McClain’s other directing credits include episodes of “Suzy F*cking Homemaker” and “Venice the Series” as well as short films “Flip Fantasia” and “The World of Albert Fuh.”
Check out the “Seeing Is Believing” website for a full list of the women interviewed for the project as well as “some good guys” who are vocally supportive of their female colleagues. You can watch the trailer below.
