Whose lens? Gender behind the camera in Pacific filmmaking

ABSTRACT

Filmmaking in the Pacific region is growing, with increasing numbers of films made in and about the region. Pacific filmmaking carries multiple forms of agency: it can redress colonial framings of the region, contribute to diversifying small island economies and support the diversity of cultural expression. However, little attention has been paid to gender in Pacific filmmaking. This article presents a quantitative gendered analysis of filmmakers in key behind-camera roles in films screened at the Pasifika Film Festival over three iterations of the festival. Our results indicate that while there are fewer women than men working as directors, scriptwriters, producers and cinematographers, those inequalities appear to be declining. However, more women work on short films and documentaries with smaller budgets, and fewer women have IMDb profiles. Further research could address gender diversity, intersectionality and the nuances of gendered agency in different filmmaking contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• filmmaking
• Pacific
• gender
• women
• agency
• inequality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 See: https://www.berlinale.de/en/archive/jahresarchive/2019/06b_berlinale_themen_2019/native.html.

2 2021, for example, was the UN’s International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development

3 #MeToo was started by Tarana Burke in 2006 as a movement against sexual abuse in society. The hashtag gained significant traction in 2016 due to sexual abuse allegations against producer Harvey Weinstein, and was subsequently adopted by a number of well-known women working in Hollywood.

4 Research by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media (n.d.) on the top 100 grossing (non-animated) films of 2014 and 2015, found that only 17% of those films had women leads. On films with a woman lead, gender representation on-screen was fairly balanced, although still slightly higher for men (men at 24% and women at 22.6%). On films with a male-lead, men characters appeared on screen nearly three times more often that women characters (men at 34.5% and women at 12.9%). Representation measured in speaking time was also more evenly balanced on films with women leads.

5 Note that this a significant increase from 2019, with 12% (top 100) and 13% (top 250) in 2019, and 2018, with 4% (top 100) and 8% (top 250).

6 Austria, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the UK (EWA, 2016).

7 We are aware, however, that the festival scene is diverse: some festivals will focus more on gender equality in their programming for than others. Research is needed, for example, into representation within the Indigenous festival circuit, which has direct relevance to Oceania and may have more balanced and inclusive programming.

8 The festival runs across the Southern hemisphere summer hence the double years for each iteration of the festival; and PFF did not run in the 2017/2018.

9 Of the films submitted annually, around one fifth are considered and around one sixth of those submitted are selected.

10 While executive producers may fulfil a number of roles on a film production, they are traditionally the people associated with the film’s budget; in many cases, partially or fully financing the film production themselves.

11 In any case, it should not be assumed that these institutions financially contributed to the production of student films, as students may often include institutions and supervisors as film ‘producers’, thus giving their work more industry credit and professional weight.

12 A number of films were directed by more than one person – in some instances, a mixed-gender team. Thus, all film directors listed count as a directing individual in our analysis.

13 In 2018/2019, there was also one gender-fluid producer identified, representing 3% of the total sample.

14 In 2018/19, there were no films that were directed by a mixed-gender team. Two films were co-directed by two men, thus, these films were coded as directed by men.

15 Research has shown that films with at least one woman director tend to hire significantly more women as key creatives (Lauzen, 2021). However, the causal dynamics remain a little unclear: a study on the German film industry found that producers usually drove hiring decisions (see Loist & Prommer, 2019). We understand hiring processes to vary within different contexts and scales. In our study, for example, films were often small-scale and made with limited resources. Some film directors were also producers. Further research could explore the causal logics at work in the higher number of women in core creative teams on films where the director and/or producer is a woman.

16 There were 28 missing credits in total on women-directed films; and 20 missing credits on men-directed films.

17 IMDb is an international online database of over 7.5 million filmic titles. All films shown at PFF would have qualified to have an IMDb page having been shown at a film festival, but needed to be submitted to the platform by the director. Also, while it might seem that an IMDb page would make a film more ‘professional’, some directors may not know the platform, or alternatively, not care much for external film promulgation on the site.

18 This data is indicative only across all 3 years of study as there were many uncredited roles in official film promotional materials or films’ IMDb pages. It is likely this number is even higher for films with missing credits in these key behind the scenes roles.

19 https://www.piccom.org/programs/reel-wahine-of-hawai-i-erin-lau-1.

20 https://www.piccom.org/programs/reel-wahine-of-hawai-i-ciara-lacy-1.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Aotearoa New Zealand’s Royal Society Te Apārangi Marsden Fund under [grant number 2996].

Notes on contributors

Polly Stupples

Polly Stupples is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. Her research centres on creative agency. With Professor Katerina Teaiwa, she edited the book Contemporary Perspectives on Art and International Development (2017).

Maja Zonjić

Dr Maja Zonjić is a researcher-practitioner and an award-winning documentary storyteller. Her research addresses gendered and racialized violence, and challenges colonial continuities associated with tropicalized tourism narratives.

Eliorah Malifa

Eliorah Malifa is a PhD candidate with the Australian National University. Her research focuses on the development of sustainable screen industry in the Pacific. Eliorah holds a Master of Media Arts and Production (University of Technology, Sydney); and a BA (Hons) in English Literature (Victoria University of Wellington). Eliorah is also a producer with Pacific writers and directors, and has an extensive slate of freelance screen projects. She coordinated the Australian delegation to the 11th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture, and assisted the film section at the 12th FestPAC in Guahan. She has managed music tours to remote Australia and completed an internship with the United Nations Department of Public Information.

Amber Kale

Amber Kale has a PhD in Human Geography from Victoria University of Wellington. Her research uses participatory arts-based methodologies to explore experiences of displacement, place-attachment, citizenship, and wellbeing in refugee resettlement. She has volunteered for refugee resettlement and Fair Trade organisations, and was the Pacific Regional Youth Co-ordinator for the Royal Commonwealth Society from 2018–2020. She is currently based in California working as a visual artist and exploring the human and environmental impacts of climate change.

Ayeisha Motu

Ayeisha Motu completed a BSc (Hons) in Human Geography at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. She developed an interest in Pacific media to feel more connected to her Niuean ancestry. Ayeisha intends to make her first trip to Niue in the next year or two, and hopes that she will gain the ability to use Vagahau Niue (the Niuean language) in her everyday life.