Solothurn Film Festival | SO PRO & Contra II: Shortage of female workers and excess of hierarchy

The Swiss film industry is currently faced with a shortage of female workers, namely assistants to directors and producers on-set. Is this situation the result of an unattractive and gendered work culture, steeped in hierarchies? Are film crews’ current organizations a hindrance to career paths or are they allowing responsibilities to be distributed evenly? Should behind-the-scene female collaborators be granted with more decision-making power or should the integrity of an artistic project remain in the hands of its sole creator? Moreover, are international co-productions making new generations precarious?

To discuss these current topics, SWAN – Swiss Women’s Audiovisual Network has teamed up with the Solothurn Film Festival and 23bis to host a panel discussion. As a preamble to the panel discussion, the directors of the festival shared the annual gender statistics to follow up on their commitments on equality and diversity, after signing the SWAN’s pledge in 2019.

Readers:

• Solothurn Film Festival’s director of operations Monica Rosenberg
• SWAN’s executive committee members Katia Skila Durlemann, Ksenia Ignatenko and Cadenza Zhao.

Speakers:

• Assistant director, team member of 23bis and creator of the podcast “Voies entrelacé·e·x·s” Mathilde Neau
• Producer Gabriela Bussman
• Production manager and professional groups’ delegate of SSFV Michael Imboden
• General secretary of SSFV Nicole Barras
• Director and committee member of ARF/FDS Géraldine Rod

Moderator:

• Videographer and SWAN executive committee member Delphine Luchetta

Spoken in French and German.

• Listen to the podcast (FR/DE)