Lady Filmmakers Film Festival showcases the women of film
Patricia DiSalvo Viayra (left) and husband Michael Viayra, Jr. (right) cofounded the first annual Lady Filmmakers Film Festival, which will take place on Oct. 17-18.
By Celina Carroll
Oct. 15, 2009 12:06 a.m.
When film director Patricia DiSalvo Viayra was looking to hire a cinematographer, she received hundreds of submissions from male cinematographers and one from a woman.
“She just happened to be the one I liked best,” Viayra said.
Viayra noted the rarity of having a woman director and a woman cinematographer working together.
“I thought, “˜maybe we need to put something together where we encourage that,'” Viayra said.
Viayra, was inspired to organize the first Lady Filmmakers Film Festival with her husband and cofounder Michael Viayra, Jr. taking place Oct. 17-18 at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.
The festival, with the intention of celebrating women filmmakers and the men who collaborate with them, will feature a large assortment of international films that utilize a female writer, director, producer or cinematographer. Awards will be given out for three categories consisting of Ladies Illuminate, where the film must call attention to social issues, Ladies First, meaning this will be the movie’s first screening, and the Ladies Kick Butt award, which must showcase females, well, kicking butt.
A portion of the ticket sale proceeds will benefit the women of Mary Magdalene Project, a nonprofit organization assisting female prostitutes and their families as they leave prostitution.
The festival retains this theme of women helping other women in the professional realm as well. Viayra hopes the festival will help to combat the stigmas surrounding women in the film industry.
“(Women) do get stereotyped with types of film we might be making,” Viayra said. “For example, they’d probably never let a woman direct a James Bond film, no matter how qualified she was.”
Viayra tried to include a diverse range of subject matters, genres and topics in the festival’s films to showcase the range of women’s talents.
“It’s important because we’re trying to focus on the positive aspect of what women have to offer, that they can make any type of film ““ it doesn’t have to be just a women’s-focused genre of issue.” Viayra said.
She lists “Slap,” an American film about two men having a tense political debate as one of her favorites, and is also pleased to be showing the film “Monday Before Thanksgiving,” which was written and directed by actress Courtney Cox.
Also playing will be a documentary chronicling the lives of women behind the camera in “Shooting Women,” the story of “Nora,” a Zimbabwean dancer and Viayra’s own film “Naked Sushi,” though she has taken herself out of the running for prizes or awards.
Los Angeles independent film and documentary producer, Linda Agnelli, said she agrees that females in the film industry will benefit from such acknowledgment.
“There is a lot of opportunity for women, but there’s not financial equality,” Agnelli said. “To succeed in the business as a woman you have to be willing to work a lot harder.”
Noting the ubiquitous economic crisis, Agnelli explains that the studios aren’t taking any chances.
“They’re working with the tried and true and that excludes a lot of women,” Agnelli said.
Howard Suber, professor emeritus of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, sees the role of women in the entertainment industry in a different light.
“It’s no longer special for a woman to write or direct, especially since there are so many women in the executive ranks,” Suber said. “But I believe the statistics show that the percentage of women writers and directors ““ probably especially directors ““ hasn’t increased that significantly over the past 20 years. The proportion of women in UCLA’s film and TV department has increased substantially during this period ““ certainly during the past 30 years ““ but that hasn’t been matched within the industry.”
But Suber realizes that the success of any movie depends on the one key factor: the audience.
“Some women may see things differently than men, but it’s what the audience responds to that’s crucial,” Suber said.
During the upcoming festival, the audience will get their chance to respond to these films, while the lady filmmakers are in the spotlight.
