Cut Out of the Picture: in the news and at Cannes

It’s been over a week since we launched Cut Out of the Picture, our commissioned report on gender inequality among directors within the UK film industry. The campaign and our recommendations were picked up by both industry and mainstream press, adding their own opinion and comment.

First with the story were our media partners Screen Daily, publishing three key pieces online: one before the report launch, another titled Hidden gender: analysing the Directors UK report - which appeared in the hardcopy Cannes special - and a final piece, featuring a rallying call for change from director Amma Asante.

On the day of the launch there was a flurry of media activity. BBC News covered the report online (Women make up just 13.6% of film directors in the UK), while advocate Susanna White discussed gender disparity among UK directors on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme (listen from 1hr 43mins) and Talk Radio. Directors UK Chair Beryl Richards spoke about the report on BBC Radio 5 Live (listen from 2 hrs 37mins) and BBC Radio Scotland (listen from 2hrs 21mins); with Suffragette director Sarah Gavron also making an appearance on 5 Live, touching on both the findings and the issues that cause disparity in the current landscape.

The campaign and findings of the study appeared in print and online versions of various press outlets. The Guardian led with three features: Give half of UK film funding to projects led by women, directors say; Are you a woman working in the film industry? Share your experiences; and a blog piece, The movies are a boys club, so break it up. Other papers included: The Financial Times - Openings: Lights, Camera, Equality, INews - British female film directors cut out of picture due to ‘systemic bias’, The Times – Sexist film trade cuts women out of directing, The Daily Mail - Women should direct 50% of publicly-funded films, Stylist - Revealed: the shocking extent of gender inequality in the UK film industry, and the Evening Standard’s Rashid Razaq: Blockbusters need a woman’s touch.

Industry press coverage included the BFI’s Sight and Sound magazine, who published Invisible Woman: film gender bias laid bare. Creative England featured the report and outlined how they have tackled the issue of gender inequality. IMDB (Give half of UK film funding to projects led by women, directors say) and Televisual (Directors UK calls for more films to be directed by women) provided additional coverage. Women in Film and Television covered the study’s findings, as did the Women and Hollywood blog, in a feature titled Systemic Bias Against Women Directors.

The Directors UK team was at Cannes this weekend to discuss the findings and recommendations with industry leaders. We also hosted a discussion on Saturday 14 May, entitled Directing the Future of Film, featuring moderator Beryl Richards and a panel that included representatives from the BFI, Creative England, the European Women’s Audiovisual Network and the Swedish Film Institute. Read more about the panel.

Thanks for all your support so far. Find out more about the campaign and what you can do at the new campaign page: Gender Equality in the UK Film Industry.