We invite you to assess the state of international women’s film festivals and we will discuss matters with organisations and women’s networks with experience of between 1 and 40 years. Worldwide there are dozens of women’s film festivals with varying orientations: inspiration, ghetto or necessity?
Are there differences in the activities of women’s film festivals in Latin America, North America, Europe and other parts of the world, and what were the motivations that led / lead to women’s film festivals being founded? How do women directors view women’s film festivals, or are other film festivals more attractive? Are women’s film festivals important more for younger filmmakers, and how do more established colleagues view the festival landscape? In her blog Women and Hollywood, Melissa Silverstein writes: “Women directors want to be seen as directors and not women directors, and when your film plays at a women’s festival you are putting yourself in the girl box. Personally, I don’t think there is anything wrong with the girl box. I love the line-ups that populate festivals that are focused on women directors. You get to see films you might not otherwise see. But when you are a women’s film festival competing for a première or for a film that hasn’t been in another festival you are in trouble. The women directors are always going to hold out for something bigger and less women-focused.“

Filmmakers are invited to express what they would like from a women’s film festival. The discussion is intended to take other networks into account. What reasons are there for women in the media to form networks, and what might these networks look like – from an institutionalised form down to more spontaneous structures? Club or internet network? In what areas do they work best and what are advantages and disadvantages? In some projects there were, and are, generation conflicts, determined not least by problems of voluntary work, the distribution of the work load, and financial resources. When is it time to call it a day? These days feminism, in contrast to queer theory, for example, seems to be tainted with a kind of taboo.

Media researcher Skadi Loist will present the discussion with a keynote speech. In this she will formulate familiar and new aspects and situations and take this as a starting point for the subsequent exchange of ideas. The open discussion will be moderated by Rachel Millward, who founded the Birds Eye View Festival in London, as a positive response to the fact that only 10% of film directors are women.

The following organisations are expected:
Athena Film Festival www.athenafilmfestival.com (since 2011)
Bimovie, München www.bimovie.de (since 1994)
Birds Eye View, London, Rachel Millward www.birds-eye-view.co.uk (since 2002)
Elles tournent Women’s Film Festival, Brussels www.ellestournent.be (since 2008)
fc gloria, Wien www.fc-gloria.at (since 2010)
Femcine, Santiago de Chile, Antonella Estévez www.femcine.cl (since 2011)
Femina, Rio de Janeiro, Paula Alves www.feminafest.com.br (since 2004)
Golden Feminists (since 2000)
Internationales Frauenfilmfestival Dortmund | Köln www.frauenfilmfestival.eu (since 1984 / 87)
International Women’s Film Festival Israel www.iwff.net (since 2004)
LaDOC Dokumentarfilm-Frauen-Netzwerk, Köln www.ladoc.de (since 2003)
Women Make Movies, Kristen Fitzpatrick www.wmm.com (since 1972)
Women and Hollywood, Melissa Silverstein http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood (since 2007)

In Kooperation mit Women in Film & Television Germany e.V. (WIFTG) www.wiftg.de (since 2005)