On Campus News

Shaneez Tyndall, a student at Rutgers University, talks about her reasons for organizing Get Loud! a film festival focusing on movies told from the point from women�s perspective with their voice. She discusses the films that were shown and the future of women in filmmaking.

Why did you feel it was important to host a film festival focused on female filmmakers and their perspective and experiences?
I thought that it was important to create GET LOUD because it was important for agency. Being a very avid viewer of film and television, I've found that women are often depicted as caricatures of women instead of real women. For example, it is typical to either see the manipulative, vindictive, ball busting woman or the naive and innocent woman and when these ideas are attached to women of color, the representation becomes significantly worse. As a woman of color myself, I have a hard time finding any woman in television and film that I can really relate to.
After doing a bit of research, I came to learn that women represent roughly 25% of the film industry workforce. Moreover, in a study conducted by Women's Media Center in 2011, it was revealed that in the top 250 domestic grossing films of that year, women represented only 25% of producers, 18% of executive producers, 14% of writers, 5% of directors, and 4% of cinematographers. These numbers revealed that women were not only underrepresented in films and television programs but also behind the scenes. Seeing these numbers made me realize that men are primarily the ones creating stories about women. It also made me realize how difficult it was for women to break into the industry and I thought that it would be great to create an arena where young women who are interested in film could have the opportunity to create something that represents their own thoughts and opinions and speak for themselves.

Can you tell me about some of the films that were screened? In terms of the films that were screened, there were really two segments: one for the student panel which featured students that have made films before GET LOUD (either in a film class or with some semi-professional help) and then films for the contest which were made by students on their own time.
Some of the films that were screened from the panel included Out! which was a film created by Jessica Rosney following the lives of four students living with the dual identities of being a member of the LGBTQ community and being Latino. Another film entitled Teagan Marie and was created by Tamiyah Yancey and focused on the biracial identity of her niece Teagan and explored her Irish and African American roots. Another film by Megan Maldonado was called Hair Therapy and it examined the racial and cultural dynamics in a Dominican hair salon in New Brunswick. Wislande Guillaume created a film telling the story of a Haitian woman�s loss in the aftermath of the earthquake that devastated Haiti in January 2010 and Rebecca Granet's film Answering the Call was a documentary on the life and experiences of Billie Jean King borne out of a one-on-one interview she conducted with her this past year.
The winning films submitted to the contest included LOUD by Srutika Sabu, which spoke about her journey as a young woman coming into her own and Women in Islam by Sundoes and Samaa Elbery about the misrepresentation of Muslim women as being oppressed by their faith (when they actually feel empowered!).

How did you promote the festival and how did you find your sponsors?
With respect to the promotion for the project, I really was fortunate because I was originally working with Karen Alexander, a Douglass Campus Dean on another event called the 40 Years of Women in the Media which was going to be a daylong event commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Women Make Movies. There were going to be five different seminars throughout the day and GET LOUD was going to be one of them. This event was set to take place October 31st, 2012 but then Hurricane Sandy took over and the event was cancelled.
Because the original event was such a big project that was planned for about half a year and involved a large number of people, the entire event could not be rescheduled but Dean Alexander helped me to reschedule GET LOUD. So the event was sponsored by both Douglass Residential College and the Institute for Women's Leadership. Promotion for the event involved a combination of email listserv blasts, radio announcements, social media (such as facebook and twitter) and good old fashioned posters!

What seemed to be the general reaction and response to the festival?
The general response to the project was a very positive one. I was happy to hear that a lot of people were interested in learning more about the representation of women in the media but especially happy that they were willing to participate in the project and submit to the contest as well.

What do you, personally believe is the future of women in filmmaking?
Personally, I think that the future for women in filmmaking is promising. There is definitely more of an awareness when it comes to the state of women in the media as well as an increase in efforts to get women more behind the scenes. I'm seeing this right here on the Rutgers campus with the Institute for Women's Leadership partnering with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. In a few years, I believe that the media landscape will be more accepting of what women have to offer. It's a slow growth, but I definitely believe that things are changing.