Women Filmmakers Day addresses the gender gap and the need to strengthen the industry for women filmmakers
CIMA, AAMMA and Women in V.O. have stated the need to promote new platforms that enable female creators to access the sector
On Monday 9 March, the auditorium of the Museo Carmen Thyssen hosted the Women Filmmakers conference, a programme organised by the women filmmakers' associations CIMA, AAMMA and Mujeres en V.O., as part of the Festival de Málaga, organised by Malaga City Council through Malaga Procultura.
The round table led by AAMMA focused on the situation of women in the Andalusian audiovisual sector, highlighting the persistent gender gap in the sector. As stated by Pilar Castro, president of the organisation, "in recent years, the percentage of stories directed by women has not exceeded 37%, and those scripted by women do not reach 38%". However, Castro stressed that "when positive action measures are applied, the reality changes", giving as an example the parity achieved in executive production thanks to the gender incentive system for grants.
Rocío Rodríguez, vice-president of AAMMA, took the floor to point out that the same gender gap in directing and scriptwriting is replicated in the productions in which RTVA participates, stressing that the situation is "even more critical in technical categories".
The promotion of talent was the focus of the round table "Programmes that promote talent: successful experiences", in which AAMMA presented its search for funding to relaunch Generamma, residencies that have produced success stories such as Ellas en la Ciudad, by Reyes Gallegos, winner of the Carmen Award for best feature-length documentary. In the words of Pilar Castro, "new female directors must have the capacity, or at least the possibility, to consider having their work produced".
María del Puy Alvarado, vice-president of CIMA and producer of Malvalanda, also joined the conversation, explaining the trajectory and success stories of CIMA Impulsa and CIMA Mentoring 1 to1, highlighting that they are "free training programmes that are very interesting not only for those selected, but also for all the members", facilitating access to the audiovisual industry and "generating community".
The round table "Films in circulation. Distribution and international sales" was attended by a large number of professionals, who explained the keys to reaching an audience atomised by the proliferation of content offerings on platforms. "The spectator now chooses by stimuli", said Estela Artacho (FEDICINE), who highlighted the difficulty of capturing attention in the current paradigm shift, as "we are competing with many more forms of entertainment than ever before".
Antonio Saura (Latido Films) joined in this reflection, affirming that, "in terms of consumption, there has never been so much cinema", which is a symptom that "the passion for fiction exists". The good box-office figures for auteur films were then presented, and María Oliva (Sideral Distribución and representative of ADICINE) pointed out how these national and international films act as a "locomotive that pulls in more audiences because they are very stimulating titles". However, she also pointed out that the main current challenge is "generational change", as "habits are hard to get into, and easy to lose".
Last, María Rubín (Movistar Plus+) provided a vision of the present and future of distribution, which involves including audiovisual education in the educational curriculum because "enjoying cinema in a cinema is still a unique experience". With this, under the slogan "another cinema is possible", Inés Romero, journalist and member of CIMA and AAMMA, closed the day.
