At the Africa International Human Rights Films Festival, AIHRFF, in Lagos, Nigeria, experts have called for more women’s participation in filmmaking and storytelling.
At one of the panel sessions, centred on the experiences, struggles, and triumphs of African women in film productions and storytelling, the trios of Damilola Aleje, a Nigerian film Producer, Vicky Patterson, a Canadian-based Cameroonian filmmaker; and Toyin Ganiyu, a Lago-based producer and Director, said there was no better time than now for the galvanization of the interests of women in filmmaking.
While Damilola and Patrerson were serving as Panellists, Toyin was moderating the event, bringing her depth of industry experience to bear in contextualising some of the issues.
The session was focused on the theme: African Women in Filmmaking, with a focus on the plethora of challenges they are facing.
According to the panellists, gender-based violence (GBV) tops the list of most disruptive challenges women face in their struggle for equal visibility and projection of their experiences and frustration, as do men.
In her submissions, Damilola said just as it is a concern on the global stage, women folks are also not enjoying the same statistical representation that men do in the film industry.
She said the worst is that women would have to work twice as hard as their male counterparts in the industry before they have a chance at breaking even because of the societal restrictions and boundaries against them
According to her, this stumbling block accounts for why women are fewer in the sector.
She said parts of the stumbling blocks her folks are being subjected to are all forms of abuse such as sexualisation, objectification, body-shaming, discrimination, harassment, intimidation, rape, emotional or verbal attacks, physical brutalization, and/or homicide, as the case may be.
She, however, countered that the narrative should be changed with immediate alacrity, arguing that it is inappropriate to leave the work to the male directors and producers to produce a film that is entirely based on women’s characterisation and experiences.
“No matter how professional the men may try, they would certainly not deliver the message as succinctly as female actors, producers, and directors would.
“This is because of the principle of relatability. A film written and produced and directed by a female would have more relatable details, including emotions, and balanced and objective characterisation of the objects without any nuances, discrimination, or stereotyping whatsoever,” she said.
When asked whether the issue she raised was particularly in relation to an event she is aware of, Damilola said the incompleteness may be done consciously or unconsciously because of gender diversity.
On her part, Patterson explained how a story of the women that it is being told by their folks would enjoy fairer and more balanced characterization and projection.
“I remember one of our films about a female truck driver. The film chronicled the experiences of a female truck driver during pregnancy and how she was able to cope with the complexities of pregnancy, menstruation, and the fragility of the time till delivery. In this type of story, no matter how a man tries, he would never be able to project the details correctly. This is one of the many issues we are talking about,” she said.
Patterson, whose work cut across Francophone African countries, said one of the major challenges women are facing is inequitable access to funding opportunities.
She said this has remained the killer of dreams and many beautiful stories of social injustices that their folks have been silently enduring.
“A major challenge for me is access to funding. It is never given on a pedestal. Neither is given equitably. But if you are diligent and accountable, all you will need is one good job, which can be done with as little as the phones on your hands, and you will mostly end up convincing donors to support your work,” she added.
On his part, the Executive Director of the Human Rights Journalists Network and Convener of the film festival, Comrade Kehinde Adegboyega, said the annual event has continued to provide a robust platform for the interrogation of many human rights abuses across the globe.
She said the convergence also serves as a renewal of commitment to not relent in helping to give voices to the marginalised people who are facing one form of oppression or the other.
Speaking earlier, Mr Femi Odugbemi, the former President of the Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria (ITPAN), said filmmaking is a vulnerable tool to bring about social change.
Odugbemi, who was also a former Chairman of the Lagos International Forum on Cinema, Motion Pictures, and Video, said it was important for the practitioners to launch out carefully orchestrated mentoring programs that would galvanise young graduates and storytellers to venture into the industry.
“Filmmaking has the exclusive power to drive a social change in the way not ever imagined. This is because of its powers of appeal and Relatability, ” he said.
Signed
Shakirudeen Bankole
Head, Communications and Strategy Team
Human Rights Journalists Network
Seunmanuel Faleye is a brand and communications strategist. He is a covert writer and an overt creative head. He publishes Apple’s Bite International Magazine.
