USC’s First Feminist Media Festival
By Terry Nguyen ‘20
On Sunday, April 2, the Women in Cinematic Arts hosted its first ever Feminist Media Festival. Although this was an inaugural event, the organization hopes to host more festivals in future years to improve inclusivity and diversity within an industry predominantly represented by cisgender white men.
The USC School of Cinematic Arts is diverse in its student demographics — the school’s demographics reveal that it is 50% female. Unfortunately, the film industry does not reflect these numbers, as only 3% of women direct the top films of the field. Such events like the Feminist Media Festival aim to create and build a network of feminist filmmakers to pave the way for the film future.
The Feminist Media Festival took place at the Ray Stark Theater, beginning at 5 p.m. with screenings of admitted films. Since the festival is hosted in April, it is a culmination of a year-long series of events featuring speakers, panelists, and workshops that aim to support the creation of diverse content. Various industry professionals were present at the event as judges and panelists, who determined the winners of each short film category.
Overall, fourteen short films were screened and judged by a panel of five esteemed judges. In order to be submitted, however, films had to meet the criterion released earlier by the Women in Cinematic Arts. Although the event was open to all USC students, regardless of major, gender, or degree, production teams had to consist of at least 50% women, and must address the theme of overcoming adversity. Furthermore, the film must be under eight minutes and pass the Bechdel test, which is when two women within a fictional work must hold a conversation about a topic other than a man, or their romantic relationship with one.
With these requirements, the organization hopes to better pursue the feminist agenda within a lacking industry.
“The real key and the real way to make for better equality in the industry is to have feminist content out there,” Sarah Jones, the president of the Women in Cinematic Arts, said in an interview with CUatUSC. “The goal for this is to support new voices and to create an inclusive creative community where people can make content and that content has a feminist message.”
Jones and other filmmakers realize that the challenge to implement and spread feminist content within the industry lies in supporting opportunities that will allow creators to create diverse, feminist content.
After the screening, there were three categories that films could receive awards in — intersectionality, narrative, and non-narrative. “Seahorse,” received the intersectionality award while “Prudence,” a short film on a female war veteran who was released from service due to her lesbian relationship, won for the narrative category. For the non-narrative film category, “Treasure” received the prize for its unique animations and storytelling elements.
Students who attended the festival left, inspired and encouraged to pursue their own forms of feminist media.
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