The Third Austrian Film Gender Report shows positive developments, but also makes existing problems in filmmaking visible.
Vienna/Graz (OTS) – “The Gender Report shows very clearly how slowly measures to promote gender equality and diversity are taking effect,” states Mag.a Iris Zappe-Heller, deputy ÖFI Director and Representative for Gender & Diversity, on the occasion of the presentation of the current Film Gender Report. “Film is an excellent medium for accelerating or preventing social changes. The findings on the status quo in terms of gender equality in Austrian filmmaking therefore go far beyond the scope of the film industry.”
The analysis of gender differences in the Austrian film industry, which has already been carried out for the third time, shows an ambivalent picture. In addition to insights into relevant gender aspects of current Austrian filmmaking and in relation to film funding, cinema documentaries were also examined for the first time with regard to the different representations of men and women, and the results were compared with developments in feature films and young talent films. The most striking findings:
Still too few camerawomen! Men in particular, but also women, primarily work with cameramen
The camera person plays a special role in the realization of a film. She is responsible for the visual implementation of the work and, in the case of fictional films, is given the highest minimum fee for filmmakers in accordance with this important position. A closer look at the causes of the still very low proportion of women in the camera department at 20% shows: In the period from 2012 to 2021, male core teams worked almost exclusively with cameramen. But core teams that were mostly female also employed predominantly cameramen. Only about every third camera person in films with female responsibility was a woman.
Migrant main characters: underrepresented and more often poor
13% of the main characters in feature films had a migration background. In the Austrian population, however, the proportion of migrant people is twice as high at 26%. The characters also came from the lower class more often than average.
Rich people and academics are overrepresented
More than a quarter of the main characters in Austria’s current feature films belonged to the upper class, a proportion more than twice as high as the Austrian population. Almost every second main character had a university degree – a reflection of the Austrian filmmakers’ own experiences?
Documentary: Men explain the world and the realities of male life are in the foreground
Women were less likely to be speakers or experts in documentaries than men; only a good tenth of the films released in 2012-2021 dealt with the realities of women’s lives. Although more than half of the protagonists in current documentaries are female, at 56%, they had significantly less say – women only accounted for a good third of the total speaking time. An imbalance that was also reflected in biographical documentaries: only one in five biographies released in cinemas between 2012 and 2021 focused on women.
The TV sector continues to be a male-dominated sector
There was not a single TV series project with a majority female responsibility that received a funding commitment – only approximately one in 20 TV feature film projects had female responsibility, and this also applied to one in four TV documentaries. This massive imbalance in the TV sector has not improved since the last report, and has even worsened in the case of TV films, with a loss of six percentage points.
“Austrian film is still a labor market with strong gender differentiation” emphasizes Dr. Paul Scheibelhofer, assistant professor at the Institute of Educational Science at the University of Innsbruck and scientific director of the third Film Gender Report. Women continue to be strong in “technical” staff positions such as lighting (8%), sound (14%) or camera (20%) as well as the powerful core departments of production (35%), script (41%) and direction (43%) underrepresented. “Compared to the previous years 2017-2019, however, the proportion of women in most staff positions has increased. The so-called gender incentive, a measure to promote women by the Austrian Film Institute, has certainly significantly supported this development,” Scheibelhofer is convinced.
Mixed progress in cinema films
Looking at cinema films as a whole, the proportion of films directed by women has increased to just over a third since the last report. Of the feature films, however, only one in five films came from a predominantly female core team; in previous years it was one in four feature films. What is encouraging, however, is that almost half of the cinema documentaries were directed by women. Since the last report, the proportion of films with a female core team has doubled.
“Women are more likely to show independent female characters”refers Birgit Moldaschl BA, ÖFI project manager for the film Gender Report, for pleasing evidence in the female-led feature films with a cinema release in 2012-2021. 58% of the main characters in these films were women, compared to only 44% in films directed by men. Eight out of ten female-directed films passed the Bechdel-Wallace test, which only applied to every second male-directed film. “Female characters were not only represented more often in women’s films, but they also spoke to each other about something far more often different than about a man – compared to male-led films.”
The proportion of women in film funding has increased, but at 33% it is still too low
Only a third of all funding promised in cinema and TV went to women, which is a quarter more than in the years 2017-2019. In cinema funding there was an increase to 38%; in television, after a small increase, only a little more than a fifth of the funding went to women.
“So we see that measures that have already been implemented, such as the introduction of the gender incentive and gender budgeting, are working. Nevertheless, there are still many areas in which there is a need for action!” emphasized Mag.a Iris Zappe-Heller.
Factbox
For the Third Austrian Film Gender Report, funding data from eleven Austrian funding bodies, including the ÖFI, were analyzed. In the period from 2020 to 2021, that’s €105 million, which went to a total of 1,139 projects in cinema and TV. In addition to the funding data, 401 completed films with an Austrian theatrical release between 2012 and 2021 were examined.
Photo attached for editorial use
©Austria Film Institute
Questions & Contact:
Birgit Moldaschl, BA
Austrian Film Institute (ÖFI)
+43 1 5269730411
birgit.moldaschl@filminstitut.at