Canada Bankrolling More Female Directors to Close Gender Gap

Submitted by Matt on Wed, 2016-03-09 21:18

Article here. Excerpt:

'Those urging Hollywood to close the pay and opportunity gap for women directors should cast an envious eye to Canada.

The National Film Board of Canada, the country's government-funded film producer, on Tuesday announced it will ensure at least half of its productions will be directed by women, and half of all production financing will go towards helping women tell their own stories.

"Today, I’m making a firm, ongoing commitment to full gender parity, which I hope will help to lead the way for the industry as a whole," NFB head Claude Joli-Coeur said in a statement. The public filmmaker backs auteur documentaries, animation, digital projects and feature films by homegrown filmmakers.'

Like0 Dislike0

Comments

I guess I missed the latest blockbuster out of Canada. A lot of Canadians come to Hollywood, but not that many Americans go to Canada. And a lot of good movies are filmed in Canada, but they have Hollywood directors.

As to female movie directors, I once read a column that tried to blame the Elliot massacre on Seth McFarland (or was it Seth Rogen?) movies. Her thesis was that these movies showed that even lovable losers could get the girl, which lead people like Elliot to believe they were entitled to have sex with women. Ergo, he went out and killed a bunch of men. About the dumbest argument ever made.

But it made me wonder what kind of movies women like this would make. Lovable losers who get the girl have a certain appeal. For a moment, any guy might think he could get the girl. Her movies would likely explain how this never happens. Only handsome winners get the girl--or something like that. Or would they be moral stories about how evil men are? The real question, is: Would anybody go see them? I doubt it. Would "The Vagina Monologues" appeal to anyone but a few die-hard feminists? I doubt it. Even the new "Ghostbusters" seems to lack wide appeal.

Film studios want a return on their investment. If a woman director can deliver, fine. But if she can't, she'll be gone. That's show business.

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by el cid on Thu, 2016-03-10 21:08

I was just about to say "fine, they can invest their own money into whatever projects they want" then I re-read and realized this is "publicly funded" films.

Typical, no accountability when taxpayer's money is used.

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by Kris on Fri, 2016-03-11 02:04