Find out more about our regular meet ups to help raise the profile of women in film.
- A free, occasional online meet-up open to all filmmakers and film-lovers.
- As an independent, voluntarily run project, it is free to join on a drop-in basis.
- Expand your knowledge and experience of women in film – women who direct, write, produce, design, act and are involved in all the crafts of filmmaking, as well as those who critique film for press or academia.
- Gain confidence to talk about your ideas and opinions.
- Share constructive feedback to develop creative skills.
- Share ideas and collaborations; scripts, poems, moving image, production.
- Contribute ideas for content of the meetings.
- Showcase work and work-in-progress at the Electric Palace Cinema.
- Contribute ideas to the Electric Palace Cinema F-Rated* programme of films.
If you'd like to join our mailing list for Electric Women on Film email Electric Palace and we'll send you details about the next Zoom meet up.
Join the next discussion: TBC
Great news! We're delighted to announce that The Electric Palace programme reached an unprecedented 42% (28 of 66 films) of F-Rated films screened during 2021. This has risen from 15.9% in 2019 (21 of 132 films screened), and 24.7% in 2020 (18 of 73 films).
September 2021: Messages to the Future
We developed our conversation about the gendered gaze and considered how this may affect our visions of the future. Some attendees prepared 60-second 'creative sneeze' based on the idea about messages to the future.
August 2021: Desire and need
In August we considered filmmakers who cut their teeth on making adverts and discussed ideas of desire and need. We looked a short film by Crystal Moselle who began with micro short films and moved to documentary filmmaking with 'The Wolfpack' and a drama series 'Betty' about a diverse group of young women navigating their lives through the predominantly male oriented world of skateboarding.
We welcomed special guest poet and artist Mae Kilha who discussed her journey as a new filmmaker.
You're invited to meet Mae again at her Poetics at the Palace events taking place to mark this year's Coastal Currents festival.
July 2021: Change and transition
For July's meeting we explored transition and change - through image, words and sound.
We watched short films from attendees and also focused on the filmmaker Lucrecia Martel - an Argentinian film director, screenwriter and producer.
Martel's feature films have received international acclaim: the adolescent drama The Holy Girl (La niña santa) (2004), the psychological thriller The Headless Woman (La mujer sin cabeza) (2008), and the period drama Zama (2017).
Electric Palace programmer, Natalia Christofoletti Barrenha, will present Zama on Thursday 26 August, 7.30pm, as part of the upcoming Electric Palace Book to film club.
Book now for Zama as part of Book to Film Club August 2021 >>
June 2021: The Portrait
On 14th June we delved into an exploration of The Portrait. We thought about the ways that we as women make portraits of ourselves. We discussed the female and the male gaze. We considered what it means to say "I am here."
We watched Travessia (Safira Moreira, 2017, Brazil, 5'):
May 2021: Feminista films and 'bittersweet' theme
Our third session took place on 11 May 2021, where the group showcased a selection of individual films that group members had put together, on the 'bittersweet' theme.
The discussion included Laurie, a special guest from Feminista Film Festival, who also shared a film.
Here are the films she showed the group on the night:
Finding Joy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV50jEhfmpk
Portrait of my Mother: http://www.sophianahliallison.com/a-portrait-of-my-mother
April 2021: Lynn Shelton and Bricolage
Our second session took place on Monday April 5th. Hosted by director of the Electric Palace, Rebecca Marshall, and volunteer Glenys Jacques, the theme was the work of the wonderful film director Lynn Shelton. We looked at one of her short films, made during lockdown.
Although an accomplished film maker, Lynn learnt how to edit together a collection of clips of her friends singing, creating a smorgasbord of delight. From our discussion, we explored the idea of Bricolage, meaning Do it Yourself/ collecting odds and ends/ re-using what is discarded.
Bricolage is a women's skill dating back to Mediaeval times, when women would collect up the discarded debris of the Pomp in Ceremonial Processions, of patriarchal royalties, through to feudal traditions when landowners would leave an area of their cornfield un-gathered for the ‘gleaners’ - always women - to collect up the remains.
It was considered good luck to have gleaners on your land after a harvest, and bad luck to leave nothing. This is also probably related to the early notions of philanthropy, where a portion of the land, pillaged from nomadic communities, was offered back as a gift.
The genesis of female gathering of course is in our blood and we can see how this layered discussion is a rich theme. From this, we took the invitation to make a 60 second short film.
*About F-Rated Films
The F-Rating is applied to all films which are directed by women and/or written by women. If the film also has significant women on screen, it receives a TRIPLE F-Rating, a gold standard. The rating allows audiences to “vote with your seat” and proactively choose to go and see F-Rated films.
The F-Rating is applied to films by cinemas and film festivals giving filmgoers an easily identifiable label so they can choose films that fairly represent women on screen and behind the camera. Highlighting these films sends a clear message to distributors, producers and funders that women can and should have more than just a supporting role within the industry.
Why we need the F-Rating
The stories we see on screen need to be told by a broad spectrum of people to represent our diverse culture. Without change, we will train the next generation to recognise only white males as the protagonists and the ones in control of the cameras, scripts and budgets.
As well as equality on screen and behind the camera, more female film critics from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities need to be welcomed into the industry so that opinion and feedback is balanced. The gender pay gap is also evident in the industry. By helping women gain recognition we can empower them to negotiate the contracts and salaries they deserve and help close the gap.
“If she can see it, she can be it.”
In real life women are not primarily just eye candy, princesses, dumb blondes, nagging wives or victims. They are engineers, heroes, trailblazers, surgeons and rulers. We need to see a massive increase in roles that reflect women’s real place in society in order to give a true representation of 50% of the population.
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