Seen and Heard 2012

Overview

The stories we see on screen become the stories we tell ourselves as a person and a society. So it matters that the default story character is a dude — specifically, only 10% of protagonists in our major motion pictures, or a third of ensemble casts, is female (Bechdel test, drive this point home). It turns out there's one simple fix for this: have women direct, write, produce or edit the film. As the organisers of the Seen and Heard film festival point out, having at least one female director bumps up women's screentime by 25%, and one female writer by 33% — but only 38% of 2011's top 250 films had women in any major production roles. Jeez Louise.

Seen and Heard is out to spread awareness in us filmgoers and simultaneously celebrate the achievements of women in film. At the Red Rattler over three consecutive Thursdays in March, they'll screen short and mid-length films that have a woman's (not necessarily gentle) touch. See the likes of Catherine Scott's Scarlet Road, about Sydney sex worker Rachel Wotton, who caters to people with disabilities; Maya Newell's Two, which visits the world of 'adult babies'; Liz Canner's Orgasm Inc, a document of the race to develop Viagra for women; and Luran Xiao's Escape, an animation that captures the inner life of a pornographic model.

In the ultimate marker of accessibility, entry to the festival is by donation. To see more fabulous works by women, check out the WOW Film Festival.

Image from Maxwell and Sierra and the Inside Out by Hannah Arrioti.