Skip to main content

The Academy's failure, yet one again, to nominate a female director.



The Academy's failure, yet again, to nominate a female director.

"There's been a slow death in a way. On the positive side, there are films getting into the Academy Awards that wouldn't have, but on the negative side, financiers are now dominant and making all the decisions. I can't count the ways a director's vision is compromised." Lili Taylor

I opened my computer and settled to continue working on my feature script about a 'disentranced' woman in a world that could be ours, but dare not admit that it is.  'Disentranced' is the title of the film.  I love this word for it basically means: To awaken from a trance or deep sleep; to arouse from a reverie.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to write as I very quickly got diverted by the nominations for the 91st Academy Awards, which have been released today. 


I watch a lot of films, intrigued by the way performances are brought to life through direction, art design and cinematography.  Of course there are a lot more elements in filmmaking , but those three elements peak my interest more than any other.   I wasn't surprised with the nominations, but I was surprised by the lack of women who have been nominated.  Not one nomination for directing, except in the foreign film category, not one nomination for cinematography, not one nomination for editing, not one for music (original score) and then it dawned on me.  I have been watching films that are pushed towards exhibition ultimately created mainly by men.  These are the films that I watch, because these are the films that are screened,  precipitated by an agenda to push these films towards exhibition by the financiers themselves who fund these films.

 There is not a lack of female talent, don't any one dare say that, but there is a lack of sympathy from those funding these films to allocate female talent in the making of these films.  When will this change?  How can this change?  It is not enough to push statistics that women are not given opportunities at directing, it has to change right at the top,  with those making the financial and creative decisions.

Women have to be given opportunities to be involved in all facets of filmmaking, to not have this happen is archaic, one sided and irrelevant in this day and age. I have been given a choice at the cinema and or VOD that I can either watch films by men or films by men.  Doesn't leave much of a choice.  I hear Lili Taylor's sentiment that financiers are making the decisions, so where does this leave the audiences that will tune in on Feb 25th?  What are the Academy Awards telling these people, the audience, you and I? 

 The Academy Awards are telling you and I that women are not good enough.  I will not not stand by and practice my craft as a director with this echoing in the background amidst the glamour, glitz and applause.  We all have to speak up to not tolerate this inequality in film, for it is more than just film. It is a voice; vision even, of the past, present and future that is provided by men, keeping women asleep or at bay. These are both one and the same.  My film disentranced is about a woman that wakes up from the lies and misconceptions that she has been fed.  Isn't it time we all did this?



Stella Dimadis

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Writer's block

Writer's block The Writer's responsibility is to his art.  He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one.  He has a dream.  It anguishes him so much he must get rid of it.  He has no peace until then... William Faulkner  Having written films, articles, essays, reports, it has always, at one stage or another, plagued me when I have had writer's block.  That moment when I sit staring at the computer screen as if it is an alien standing it's ground in a duel for battle with me.  Eyeing me, daring me to drop my weapons of my imagination.  The frustration builds up and chocolate beckons, serenading the virtues of itself.  It is all too familiar, this battle, and I may have thrown my writing in all together had it not been for my editor in the late 90's when I completed some articles for Who Weekly. I remember grizzling into the phone line with him that my writing was not perfect...there was something missing...I couldn't pinpoint it....
2 comments
Read more

Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future.

"Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future. "   Corrie Ten Boom Corrie Ten Boom was a Dutch watchmaker, who had helped many Jews escape during the Holocaust, was a prisoner and then a writer.  She held many memories, no doubt, fears; images that would stay forever and haunt her, but they were able to unlock a future for her that she would never have imagined.  Her writing and her boldness initiated her knighthood by the Queen of the Netherlands, The King's College in New York City named a new women's house in her honour, her book "The Hiding Place", was  made into a feature film, twice. Locked away in our computer hard drives are examples of our work and lives that we lock away when our computer sleeps, forgetting about their importance because we are always told to focus on the now, forgetting about our past.  Well, perhaps it is time that we also learn to love our past, regardless of what it was like, so that we can understand what our...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cruella

Cruella “Cruella was in a box a long time, now Estella can be the one who makes guest appearances!” -Cruella Every so often, a film encapsulates all of the factors that make it ‘wow’, leaving the audience totally satisfied.  Cruella, directed by Craig Gillespie, starring Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, screenplay by Dana Fox and Tony McNamara, produced by Disney does exactly that. It was released in Australia on May the 27th, 2021, not the best year for a release due to the Pandemic and inherent lockdowns in this country, but nevertheless a real treat on any screen. The film follows Estella before she becomes Cruella De Vil; a gifted, precocious girl whose rebellious streak, fighting spirit and desire to become a fashion designer is the perfect mix for her journey through life.  She was orphaned at 12 from whom she thought was her biological mother, but of course the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and with the help of her two childhood partners, Horace and Jasper, Estella e...
Post a Comment
Read more