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| British director Andrea Arnolds American Honey, set to screen at Cannes, was shot in the US. |
A Southampton University study into gender balance in British film has revealed some shocking statistics. Examining every feature-length film in production in the UK during 2015, the researchers found that women were seriously underrepresented, and that on 25% of productions the directors, writers, producers, executive producers, cinematographers and editors were all male.
Calling The Shots: Women And Contemporary Film Culture In The UK found that just 13% of directors were women. Although women made up 27% of producers, 43% of films had no female producers involved.
The figures are even worse for black and ethnic minority women, who made up just 2% of each of thee categories except for cinematography, where there were none at all.
"This is a crucial piece of research laying bare the grotesque discrepancy between the sexes in the film industry. Equal numbers of men and women enter this industry but women are relentlessly squeezed out. Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) women have the hardest time of all. It is the film industry itself which suffers from this, with a narrowing of its vision and an impoverishment of its creativity," said Kate Kinninmont, CEO of Women in Film and Television UK. "Sweden has acted successfully to remedy this by ensuring that public money in the industry is divided fairly. Canada and Australia are following suit. It's time for the UK to act. What are we waiting for?"
