Thanks to all who joined us at our various events during Cannes Film Festival 2022, it was fantastic to see you and catch up, share stories and experience, and gather our collective strength!
Thank you to all who attended the IMDbPro Roadshow on 4/28/22! Please find the follow-up materials here with a breakdown of the items discussed in more detail.
As a WITI member, you are eligible to receive a 30% discount off your monthly or annual IMDbPro membership. To redeem this benefit, email Regina via assistant@wifti.net
Watch the meeting recording here.
Watch Salma Hayek Pinault’s acceptance of our IMDb “Icon” STARmeter award here.
Watch a fun sizzle reel celebrating IMDbPro’s 20th anniversary here.
Follow IMDbPro on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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You can meet WIFT representatives from our global community during two events in Cannes. The annual WIFT panel, organised by WIFT Israel, takes place on May 20th and our grand WIFTI reception takes place on May 22 (invitation only). We cannot wait to see you again in real life!
Information for our reception on May 22nd will follow soon, keep an eye out here and via our newsletter!
Hi from nowhere, my name Maria Kuvshinova, before Feb 24 I used to be a Russian film critic and a cofounder of a feminist cinema web site which is now frozen or even closed (I really don’t know). I see no use (and no right) in covering Russian cinema after the horror of Bucha, Mariupol and many other cities of Ukraine. One of my Ukranian friends wrote on Facebook, that Russian culture has a moral obligation to be silent for at least 10 years only reflecting its imperial essence and exploring of the roots of evil manifested by the Russian army in Ukraine (and before Ukraine in Chechnya, Georgia and many other places of the former empire). I agree with him.
As thousands of Russians I left the country after being arrested during an anti-war rally in Saint Petersburg on February 27. After the first days of intense anti-war protests, no possibility left even to call the current war a “war” publicly and not risking to be arrested with a potential of a 15 years term in prison due to a new “anti-fake’ law (officially it’s not a war, but a “special operation”). People who had no chance to leave the country are now checking their clothes for yellow and blue (the colors of the Ukrainian flag) before going out, as far as the police arresting people dressed in these two colors or wearing a greed band (symbol of protest) or something white-blue-white (a project for a new Russian flag without it’s blood-red bottom stripe). Anyone with any poster in hands with any text (or even without text, sometimes people just use 8 stars — *** ***** — which means “no to war’, “нет войне”) are being captured by police in seconds. People are being fired or/and arrested for spreading any information about this war on the internet. The price of a protest still low (a penalty or few weeks in prison), but tortures and humiliation is not a rare thing at the police stations and two arrests in a row would lead to a stronger punishment. And we don’t know how the repressive machine will act in a couple of months.
So, they are doing everything to shut down any protest. But people are still protesting and getting arrested every single day.
Surprisingly for many (but not for me) the most powerful, creative and organized ant-war movement in Russia nowadyas is a Feminist Anti-War Resistance emerged on Feb 25, the second day of war. Their telegram group includes 30 000 readers and participants, inventing more and more forms of protest on a daily basis, absorbing upcoming ideas of anonymous activists from dozens of Russian cities. They’re successfully trying to break through the lies broadcasted by the state propaganda by changing price tags in the supermarkets with anti-war messages, writing “no to war” on banknotes and contracting improvised memorials marked with a burial crosses in their yards. They are wearing black clothes each Friday (and also being arrested for that), supporting the strike fund (unfortunately no strikes yet), publishing evidence from Ukrainian women and inspiring readers to invent their own forms of protest. There are some public figures behind the FAR-group such as Daria Serenko, a poet, and Ella Rossman, a scholar (both are outside of Russia), but the movement is constructed as a horizontal no-leader organization easy to join only by willing to join.
Why the Feminist Anti-War Resistance is so successful (not in stopping this war by now, but in giving hope to many)? Russian authorities have been erasing all forms of political protest for years, but the growing feminist movement was never taken seriously by the men in power. The state ignored the demands of laws protecting women from the domestic violence or representation of women in power structures (or even on screen). Feminists were pariahs in mainstream media, and film industry, and literature circles and everywhere else. They were mocked by elites and constantly persecuted by far-right villains. But for all these years they (we) were raising their (ours) voice against violence and creating networks. Russian feminists already knew the enemy Ukraine is facing today: Russian militarism and imperial chauvinism they’re facing for years. Russian feminists know very well how all forms of violence are interconnected.
I really don’t know the future. I just want the war to be over and I don’t even bother with the Russian future or even with my own future. But every time I open the FAR channel on telegram I think that we may still have some future.
Нет войне.
Maria Kuvshinova (1978), Russian film critic from Saint Petersburg. Cofounder of KKBBD.com
We are all shocked by Russia’s brutal attack on independent Ukraine, but our indignation should be backed up by concrete, responsible help for our Ukrainian sisters and brothers. Poland has become a natural place of refuge for many of them. Among them are also professionals working in film industry, majority of whom are women. They need a housing, food, basic necessities and also mental health services. In the future, we need to help them to return to work in their professions.
Polish film organizations are trying to provide help on an ongoing basis and work in cooperation with Ukrainian friends. First of all, our sisters and brothers need to rest. They often wait up to four days at the border. We are creating a list of organizations, companies and individuals that can provide refugees with temporary and later permanent housing. We are also creating a database of those who can later hire them in various film professions, who can also provide language lessons and professional skills for other markets. The Polish film industry is relatively small, so the help of filmmakers from all over the world will certainly be needed.
Many inhabitants of Ukraine fled as they were, without documents and money. We can help with the process of immigration paperwork now, even if they would like to move on.
We must remember that there are many filmmakers in Ukraine who do not want to flee. Who want to stay in Ukraine and provide us with documentary eyewitness accounts, cataloging the impact of the Russian invasion. Knowing how many influential people there are in the film world, they write from bunkers in their cities hoping to be heard and appealing to the whole world for help. They count on film industry leaders to pressure on international organizations and politicians, not to wait for the destruction of their country. They plea for support in making Ukraine a member of the European Union and NATO, and not succumb to the blackmail of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin.
We will send you a list of specific needs and addresses to which you can submit offers of your assistance.
Attached you will find the appeal of Ukrainian filmmakers from the Kyiv metro.
On behalf of Women in Film Poland
Renata Czarnkowska-Listoś
President