WIFTI stands in solidarity with our Afghan sisters

Read our statement below:

Read the WIFTI Annual Report 2020-21 here

With our fiscal year 2020-21 having ended on August 31, it’s time for our chapters to renew their membership – and for new groups to think about whether they want to join the global movement and become a member of WIFTI.

It’s also the time, where we update you about our growing and evolving organisation. Find our annual report here and read more about our projects of the past year, amongst others:

• March 8 Short Film Showcase to celebrate International Women’s Day
• Nordic Women in Film which strengthened our Nordic-US network
• New chapters in Bhutan, Israel and China
• Festival Collaborations with Berlinale and African Pavillon in Cannes

The WIFTI Board thanks you for your support and for your work, we appreciate all your efforts, as they will inevitably make the next generation’s lives better!

Read the Annual Report 2020-21 here.

WIFT International fights against racism together with ARTEF

In the Summer of 2020, a group of European film industry professionals gathered to form ARTEF, the Anti-Racism Taskforce for European Film. WIFT International has been a member from its beginnings. Engaging over thirty organisations, our first step was an awareness training programme lead by Dr Emilia Roig, trainer, author, and founder of the Centre for Intersectional Justice in Berlin. The workshop encounters lasted between November 2020 and May 2021 online with an average of forty participants from all over Europe in each session.

With a broad and intersectional approach ARTEF’s main aim is to dismantle racist structures and combat all forms of racism in the European film industry. Our goal is to become a task force for change: by raising awareness, by offering education and insights, by suggesting revisions to regulations and practices, as well as to weather opposition from the industry — especially from those who habitually benefit from institutionalised racism.

After its initial year, ARTEF will continue organising training programmes for European film professionals who are keen on tackling institutionalised racism and willing to do the personal work needed to help dismantling existing structures, and help building new, inclusive ones in the decades to come. Anyone who has been or is affected by racism in the European film industry is invited to come forward and engage with ARTEF to help us build a meaningful task force together.

Thus far, we have been laying the ground for future actions and we will be reaching out to all European film institutions, including film festivals, film commissioning, organisations and filmmaking collectives, asking them to join ARTEF, and commit to training, ring fencing of resources, and to turn their awareness into actions.

We invite filmmakers in every European country to write to their institutions, collectives, unions, and organisations to request they join and support ARTEF!s work, and to engage with us with ideas, suggestions and/or requests.

LIST OF MEMBERS

Initiated by Matthijs Wouter Knol, the newly appointed Director of the European Film Academy, ARTEF was also co-founded by its current Board of Directors: Helene Granqvist (producer Nordic Film Factory and president WIFTI), Paula Alvarez Vaccaro (producer Pinball London and European Producers Club vice president), and Marion Schmidt (co-director Documentary Association of Europe).

Steering committee

Paula Alvarez Vaccaro, Véronique N. Doumbé, Helene Granqvist, Laurence Lascary, Regina Mosch, Marion Schmidt, Matthijs Wouter Knol

Funding partners

Bertha Foundation, British Film Institute, FOCAL, HessenFilm, MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schles- wig-Holstein, International Sámi Film Institute, Film Fund Luxemburg, Netherlands Film Fund, Norwegian Film Institute, Swedish Film Institute and contributions from the participating organisations ACE, EAVE, EWA, and WIFTI as well as production companies Magic Hour Films and Pinball London and further donors.

The awareness trainings were attended by top-level representatives of the following organisations

ACE Producers, British Film Institute, Cinéastes non alignées, Collectif 50/50, Creative Diversity Network, DAE — Documentary Association of Europe, Doc Society, EAVE, European Film Academy, EFM — European Film Market, EFP — European Film Promotion, EWA — European Women’s Audiovisual Network, EPC — European Producers Club, FOCAL, International Sámi Film Institute, Magic Hour Films, MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Netherlands Film Fund, Norwegian Film Institute, Pinball London, Power to Transform, Programmers of Colour Collective (POC2), ProQuote Film, Swedish Film Institute, Queer Media Society, WIFTI — Women in Film and Television International

Press contact: Pascal Edelmann, European Film Academy

p.edelmann@europeanfilmacademy.org