Shahrbanoo Sadat and Jelena Maksimović Hit Back at Discrimination in Film Funding at Tokyo Festival Talk — SkimNews
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- Sadat said at the Tokyo International Film Festival that discrimination starts at development rather than festival selection, noting that only one of the 20 films in Venice’s main competition was directed by a woman: May el-Toukhy’s “Woman Unknown.”
- Barbera said Venice’s sole woman-directed entry was the only film he found of adequate quality to compete internationally, yet May el-Toukhy’s “Woman Unknown” went on to win the Golden Lion.
- Sadat responded to an audience member who cited only about four women-made films in the Tokyo selection by arguing that male filmmakers may make flawed films while women are held to perfection.
- Maksimović said Serbia’s outgoing government cut off Film Center Serbia’s funding entirely in retaliation for filmmakers’ support for student anti-corruption protests; the student-led movement won the snap parliamentary election on Oct. 25.
- Maksimović said the amount of money for Serbian films was very small and co-production countries were hard to find even when Film Center Serbia worked normally; she and filmmakers of less mainstream features avoided major funding because they knew applications would fail.
- Sadat said entry into Afghanistan’s male cinema network required “capitulation, submission and compromise,” prompting her to connect with European filmmaking, though she said European funding systems also contain fundamental discrimination.
- Maksimović called for changing film funds and committees and rejected tokenistic inclusion, asking whether institutions were changing or merely putting things into boxes.
Why it matters: The funding gate is where exclusion becomes measurable: Film Center Serbia lost all government funding, and Maksimović said filmmakers of less mainstream features knew major applications would fail. With one of 20 Venice competition films directed by a woman, both speakers put reform upstream—in development support, funding access and committees that determine support for women directors.
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