Latin America’s Industry Debates Ways Forward Towards Gender Parity
BUENOS AIRES — Representatives of Ibero-American film industry collectives gathered to discuss diversity, parity and equality in the audiovisual sector at a pair of panels held by Ventana Sur’s Punto Genero and industry strands in Buenos Aires on Thursday.
Moderated by Lyara Oliveira, São Paulo promotion agency Spcine’s director of innovation and audiovisual policies, the Punto Genero discussion focused on regional strategies toward greater diversity in the field.
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Panelists included Annamaría Muchnik, president of Argentina’s Asociación La Mujer y el Cine, Cristina Andreu, president of Spain’s CIMA, Mitzuko Villanueva, president of Mexico’s Mujeres en Cine y Televisión and Mónica Hernández, producer and member of the REC Sisters collective, a space for women in Colombia’s audiovisual sector.
Muchnik opened with an emotive recounting of her experience in the sector, remembering a worthwhile yet unrelenting and diligent climb toward broader acceptance for women in cinema.
“When La Mujer y el Cine was born 35 years ago, women in this country were fighting to have access to relevant places in culture, in politics, in society as a whole. We came from very dark, very painful times and we fought against a lot of resistance to expand into the most diverse social areas,” she lamented.
“We, women, knew that we were on a path of growth and progress and a path that was going to be long and difficult, it depended on our effort, no one was going to pave the way for us. We needed ideological clarity, conviction, commitment and solidarity,” she added.
The panel then traveled to Spain, as Goya-nominated director Andreu spoke to the importance of creating solid footing for women in the industry through state aid and further incentives that afford them the same ease of entry to the field that’s often enjoyed by their male counterparts, taking into consideration economic and situational barriers.
She recounted being told by producers that there were no good female directors in Spain and admitted she “was in tears, because I knew there were. What’s more, there are some that are winning awards. Another thing they like to say is that what we have to measure is talent, but talent can’t be measured without equality. When we all have the same rights, then we can measure talent.”
“Despite not having that equality, in recent years [prizes at] almost all the international and national festivals in Spain are being swept by women directors, women are winning many Spanish Academy Goya Awards. Without even reaching our goal, which would be 50-50 in the year 2025, we’re already achieving all of this,” she added.
Andreu went on to speak to changes being made to forge that access, from working in tight-knit groups effecting change, to ensuring women who wish to enter the field aren’t restricted.
“At film festivals we now have nurseries, at some festivals we’re also making these day-care centers available to the public so they can attend and leave their children there. We’re very happy because we want to create a network of Ibero-American women,” she concluded.
Speaking to the power of the collective, multi-platform Mexican producer Villanueva addressed the need for networking in all corners of the sector in a country that has long suffered the erasure of women in these fields.
“In Mexico, the issue of machismo and equality has cost us a lot of work. This is a cultural issue that we’ve been fighting for and so far we’ve achieved quite relevant positions,” she stated.
Her group helps to destigmatize women’s roles in every facet of the business and train those that wish to advance in tech and production work, with AI becoming more advanced and tools of the trade updating rapidly. Ongoing education and tips for women just entering the field are an additional priority.
“Technological progress is constant and what we have observed is that now, with artificial intelligence, we have an issue. There are many women in the Mexican industry who are over 50 and many of them find it difficult to adapt. Training in these areas seems fundamental to us and we’re working on that,” she explained.
Villanueva has contributed to a registry that lists the female professionals in the country so that productions can take advantage of a women-led workforce, offering incentives for producers who decide to support them.
She pointed to the pride in having a strong technical team in place to provide assistance to larger projects and stated that “today in Mexico we can pull off huge productions, and 100% of the crew will be made up of women, gaffers, staff, electricians.” She further credited local programs like Las Amazonas Electricas, an electric and grip team that give training workshops to women who are interested in that side of the industry.
The conversation then opened up to Hernández, who works to impart a sense of safety for women in the audiovisual realm and pin down definitions for the harassment that plagues many professionals.
“Our work revolves around three fundamental axes, one axis is prevention. From there, through training, we promote safe and equitable spaces with parity within the audiovisual guild. These training sessions are carried out on the sets with people who are already professionals and in film schools and public institutions,” she relayed.
“The second is a detection pillar, which is where we try to identify possible situations of harassment or, let’s say, different levels of equity and parity, and we sit at discussion tables and talk about it. The third is attention, and this pillar offers psychosocial or legal help to people who come to the collective and have been victims of harassment, abuse or discrimination in any workplace,” she added.
The panel wound down as participants noted the diversity among women and held firm that it’s essential to retain the ability to tell stories from these varied perspectives.
With Argentina facing the possibility of the closure of its INCAA film-TV Agency, Muchnik closed the discussion with a fierce reminder that without state aid, the country’s best and brightest will set out to produce their projects elsewhere, leaving a large gap in the cultural landscape.
“A film is the image of a country. It’s not only a work of art. When you see a film, you see how the people of that country live, how they feel, how they succeed, how they fail. Maybe Europe can have the enormous support that the platforms and the institutions have. We haven’t reached that point. We’re fighting for it, but we believe that there has to be some kind of support from the state, because that’s what has allowed us to make films that win international festivals.”
She concluded with a sobering call to action, “Simone de Beauvoir once said ‘Never forget that it only takes one political, economic or religious crisis for women’s rights to be put in jeopardy. Those rights are never to be taken for granted; you must remain vigilant throughout your life.’”
“If we’re not able to fight against all kinds of violence against us, if we can’t put together common projects that allow us to grow, that give us a hand in the difficult moments we’re going through, we won’t be able to count on the support of those who are in charge of pulling the strings of power. We won’t be able to open doors that are still closed or, even if they were open, could close again. I say to you, friends, comrades, from my country and from all the countries that have joined us, believe me, in times of uncertainty and despair, it’s essential that there are collective projects from which to plan together for hope.”
Presentation of the Second Report on Gender Equality In The Ibero-American Audiovisual Industry
Panelists Lola Díaz-González García, director for the promotion of Mexican cinema, Micaela Domínguez Prost, a journalist at LatAm Cinema.com and Juliana Funaro, international director at + Mujeres Lideranças do Audiovisual Brasileiro, joined moderator Ignacio Catoggio, general coordinator of the Conference of Ibero-American Audiovisual and Cinematographic Authorities (CAACI), to preview the sophomore report on the state of gender and sexual diversity in the Ibero-American audiovisual sector.
An ambitious set of curated data points, Catoggio admitted the information was previously, “scattered, in many cases it didn’t exist.”
“CAACI has become the think tank, the apparatus of thought on the audiovisual sector. At the same time, we’re the controllers, the ones who monitor the application of the American Union of Co-Production agreement. We regulate the way in which the region co-produces and, in turn, that’s what shapes the Ibermedia program and the application of the Ibermedia program fund,” he explained.
Meant to urge reflection and nudge action in regards to bolstering greater diversity in the sector, the data collection proved similar to a consultancy effort for the team, often working alongside governments to glean this valuable insight.
Since documentation began in 2021, the countries reporting grew from 13 to 17. What may seem a modest advance is met with optimism, Catoggio pointing out that, “ if we take into account that we’re talking about 23 countries and 17 of the 23 are now included, that’s almost 80% included.”
The report has been bolstered by broader participation and organized succinctly, resulting in a more professional and systemic analysis of gender and diversity trends in the Ibero-American audiovisual sector. This year’s report is divided into four basic categories and their respective sub-indices that include institutional framework, budget support, information management and stakeholder participation.
An incremental increase of women in the sector was seen across production, direction and screenwriting fields, while parity regarding funding is still something to strive for. The two years between data sets shows that more funding and implementation for gender-specific regulations and spaces in the Ibero-American cinematic fabric have been set in place. Proving that holding the industry to account pays off in the growth of programs and initiatives year-on-year.
“In 2018 you have 178 productions made by men and 120 made by women. All the growth that there was between 2018 and 2022 is basically in productions made by women. In screenwriting it’s more or less the same. In 2018 we have 223 productions scripted by men and 80 by women. In 2022 we have 207 made by men and 130 made by women,” Catoggio noted.
Funaro added that, “In Brazil we’ve achieved 17% of women writing scripts, 19% of women in directing and 40% in production. So, still very little participation from women in script writing and direction.”
When it came to financial risk and reward, an interesting and potentially problematic trend was uncovered.
“What’s reflected is that the more money there is, the more the participation rates of women go down. In terms of production and direction, there are more women directing and producing documentaries than fiction, more women producing short films than feature films,” Catoggio went on.
The panel wrapped as participants questioned what leads women to leave the audiovisual industry, offering solutions to curb the exodus by pointing to the incorporation of best practices, quota systems for productions and programs to remove barriers and fill the decreasing but still-present void in women-led audiovisual projects.
The finalized report will be unveiled in February at the Berlin Film Festival.
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