Female Filmmakers: Joining Forces to Empower Women
We sat down with feminist filmmakers Louise Brix Andersen and Anne-Cecile Ville to chat about their upcoming projects and to share some of their own advice for women in the industry. Both participants of our very own Working Women Week, Louise and Anne-Cecile share the mission of empowering women through their work and collaborating to promote and support one another. We discuss the inequalities that exist for females in film today, the importance of representation and why they have decided to join forces.
Tell Us a Bit about Yourselves
Anne-Cecile: I am an experienced screenwriter, author, new director and founder of a group of international women who make stories which combine a new perspective with humor to empower our sisters and all dreamers! We make film, TV and social media content.
Louise: I am a multilingual writer and film director with a flair for deep and complex stories, an advocate for women's rights and a member of several female-promoting organizations working towards gender balance in the film industry.
I co-founded and host the group The Leading Ladies where I organize monthly online meetings for the group’s female filmmakers. I am also the creator and host of the XOTV channel: Changing the Narrative, a series of video conversations showcasing inspiring women from around the world who all fight for a change of the narrative in our society.
How did you come to collaborate together?
Anne-Cecile: I met Louise in March 2021. I didn’t know anyone in the filmmaking industry in Barcelona, and I found her while networking either via Facebook or LinkedIn. That part is blurry, but I was immediately bowled over by Louise: her experience, drive and genuine commitment to help raise women’s voices, amongst other things! Although we were doing different projects, we shared the same commitment: to help spread awareness.
Louise took part in the filmmaking talk I hosted during last year’s Barcelona Working Women’s Week. She also hosts a monthly event for women in filmmaking called: The Leading Ladies and she will co-guest in a masterclass that I will hold for my crowdfunding campaign. Quite honestly, there isn’t a week when I don’t speak to Louise at least once!
Louise: As Anne-Cecile has explained, we met online during the global pandemic, and we didn’t have a chance to meet properly in-person until almost six months later. Anne-Cecile is unstoppable and inexhaustible, and I was immediately drawn to her high energy and hard-working mentally. We share many of the same values, but we also have experiences in different areas and can therefore complement and help each other.
Since we met, we have continued to find unique ways of collaborating and supporting each other.
Why is this collaboration different?
Anne-Cecile: This is not a collaboration that directly benefits us per say. Louise and I are promoting different projects. This collaboration stems from our shared values of supporting women. Sadly, as women, we do not collaborate as much as we should, but we want to show that we do not only feel stronger doing it together, but that it also makes financial and business sense, and we hope to inspire more women in the filmmaking industry, in particular.
Louise: This collaboration is different because we are launching two projects that, in theory, have nothing to do with each other. Anne-Cecile is launching her crowdfunding campaign for her short film The Penis Conundrum and I am publishing a book called Remote Filmmaking. We decided to join forces and launch/publish on the same date and plan a shared promotional online campaign. Anne-Cecile had invited me to do a masterclass on remote filmmaking through her crowdfunding campaign and we realized that this was our logical point of connection between the two projects.
From a financial perspective, our collaboration is not only interesting because together we can attract double the interest and traffic on our social media profiles, but also because we set an example and show other women the importance of helping and supporting each other. We want to do more than just launch a crowdfunding campaign and publish a book. We also understand our target group and our audience. We know that both of us speak to women working in the film industry, although our film and our book are intended for all genders.
Why do you feel it is important for women in the filmmaking industry to join forces?
Anne-Cecile: With only 36% of filmmaking crews being female, the filmmaking industry is way behind other industries in terms of representation. When you add that most decision-makers are also male, it makes it rather bleak for most women to break through. By joining forces, particularly with women from other industries, women creatives can spread the word, gain an audience, and help raise capital for their specific projects.
Louise: Men have dominated the film industry for many years. You might find it interesting to know that it was actually built up by some very important and talented female directors and producers in the beginning who unfortunately did not make it into the film history books thus most people do not know their names.
We tend to see the same stories and the same stereotypical characters. Luckily, in recent years we have seen a slight improvement. The industry is little by little becoming more inclusive and diverse, as it should be. Like Anne-Cecile mentions, the only way to assure a continuous improvement of these things is to bring women into managerial and decision-making positions so when a female filmmaker applies for a fund for her female-driven story she is actually rewarded that money and can go make her film.
This is why we need more women (of all colors, cultures, ages, sexualities, etc.) to join forces and help each other to move forward.
Tell us a bit more about your respective projects:
Anne-Cecile: To showcase our unique perspective, we are starting our journey with our comedy short film, The Penis Conundrum for which we are now raising funds via our crowdfunding campaign!
Louise: Many years of experience with independent filmmaking together with recent eye-opening experiences with remote and online collaborations (more specifically a short film I wrote and directed remotely during the global pandemic with the collaboration of nine different countries, produced by the production companies EXIT 44 Entertainment in Hollywood and Limmat Films in Barcelona) drove me to write a book about (and called) Remote Filmmaking.
How would you summarize your project in one sentence?
Anne-Cecile: “A woman falls apart when she sees the outline of her colleague’s penis during a meeting.” Besides the obvious comedic tone, we take an honest look at women’s feelings of shame and embarrassment when it comes to sex. We want to make you laugh (and think!).
Louise: A guide on how to make films (remotely), form online professional relationships and create creative collaborations across the globe; the book that brings remote collaborations closer to you.
How are your projects different from what is already out there?
Anne-Cecile: Creative women are notoriously bad at business and promoting themselves. I think the old adage of the struggling artist is sadly still alive and well.
Besides me, we have in our team a project manager and producer with years of experience in the start-up world (Gloriya Haralanova) and a social media manager who is an up-and-coming influencer, artist and podcaster (Romina Hakim). Together, we mix creativity, business and communication.
With The Penis Conundrum, the idea is to collaborate with an influencer (who will be the “Penis Man”) and to broadcast the short film from a rooftop in Barcelona during a YouTube live. Our aim is to get one million views.
Louise: Is this just another book on filmmaking? Yes, in theory, except this book will not sell you on doing things a certain way. My book will not tell you: Do this and you will succeed! It will simply offer ideas, suggestions and alternatives that hopefully will fuel your creativity and inspire you to explore new and different ways of doing things.
Fast-growing and innovative technology is making it easier and easier to work remotely which means we are no longer limited to searching for work or creating projects with people who live in the same city or country. We have a whole world full of talent open and available to us.
The book in itself is also an example of collaboration as I have included 10 mini-interviews and a full chapter with various industry professionals (one of them is Anne-Cecile) who all have experience with filmmaking and remote collaborations.
Who is your audience?
Anne-Cecile: Women 25 and up, and men who love a good laugh and want to be inspired!
Louise: This book is intended for filmmakers in the early stages of their career who are seeking a filmmaking guide. Or more experienced filmmakers who have a specific interest in knowing how you can collaborate and work remotely with creatives across the globe.
Any tips for women in the filmmaking industry?
Louise: I recommend anyone who is serious about their career, whether in the film industry or in another area, to network and join or form communities.
It is very empowering and motivating to be part of a community that understands and supports you. It gives you confidence, courage and inspiration. Men have enjoyed the benefits of brotherhoods and a male dominated job market for centuries so it’s only natural and logical that women now start to form sisterhoods, groups, organizations, etc. for support and motivation. I don’t want to say that women and men should work separately. I enjoy working on teams and crews of mixed genders. My point is that it can be very helpful and encouraging to join communities where you feel heard and understood. Women have only recently been allowed to join the job market and open their own bank account, and we still live in a patriarchy with plenty of struggles to overcome.
Anne-Cecile: What Louise said. I would also advise creative women to widen the net and find inspiration in other industries.
What is in store for the future?
Anne-Cecile: Beyond the short film and YouTube live, we will continue to provide fun and inspiring social media content to grow our audience further while we set up our production company. Our aim is to raise capital for a TV series in Barcelona by the end of the year.
Louise: Currently, I am in development with a Danish production company for an anthology series. I am in pre-production with a Spanish production company for a documentary film, and finally I am also searching for a producer for my feature film Sisterhood.
Apart from my film projects, I want to continue working with female promoting organizations, and I hope sometime in the near future to be able to collaborate with NGO’s in the area of sex trafficking, abuse and domestic violence.
Where can we find you?
Anne-Cecile: We are all over social media, but you can find all the information you need (including how to support us) in one spot: thepenisconundrum.com.
Louise: On my website you can find more information about me and my projects: louisebrix.com. And on Linktree you can find my social media profiles and links to projects: linktr.ee/louisebrixa.