MONTREAL – Just ahead of International Women’s Day, the National Film Board of Canada said that it has all but achieved its gender parity objectives set out two years ago when it pledged that half of its productions would be directed by women and half of production spending would go toward women filmmakers by 2019.
The NFB said that for its 2017-2018 fiscal year, defined as April 1, 2017, to March 31, 2018, 47% of the works completed were directed by women (with 38% by men and 15% by mixed teams), and 46% of production spending was allocated to works directed by women (38% to works directed by men and 16% to works directed by mixed teams).
While progress has been made for the position of editor (38% of completed projects), there remains work to be done in positions that are related to cinematography (13%) and music composition (4%). “The talent is out there: it’s just a question of finding it”, continues the report.
“In aiming for parity, we’re also fostering diversity and inclusion, as women filmmakers come from every generation and background”, said Government Film Commissioner and NFB chair Claude Joli-Coeur, in a statement. “By the same token, we’re recognizing talent: of the 132 awards won at the NFB over the past year, 79 (or 60%) went to works made by women. At the end of the day, we all benefit from these parity objectives, since they improve the quality and variety of the works.”
In related news, the NFB announced that it will make its Talent Bank for female professionals accessible to Réalisatrices Équitables (RÉ), Femmes du cinéma, de la télévision et des médias numériques (FCTMN) and Film Fatales. Talks aimed at reaching a similar agreement are also underway with the Vancouver, Alberta, Toronto and Atlantic chapters of Women in Film and Television. These partnerships will increase the impact of the database, bringing its profiles to the greatest number of industry players.
The NFB’s Talent Bank is a place where women audiovisual professionals can submit their portfolios, demos and CVs. To date, nearly 100 women have added their profiles to the Talent Bank, putting themselves in a position to be discovered by the NFB’s studios and partnering organizations.
