WOMEN OWN FILM CONTEST
Crazy8s Film Society competition sees 228 submissions, 60 per cent from females
There is a sea change happening in the filmmaking world and this year’s Crazy8s Film Society competition is proof positive of that transformation. This year’s competition had the most women filmmakers submitting short-film ideas in the 19-year history of the event. Organizers say about 60 per cent of the 228 total submissions were from women. Those women ended up owning the competition as they made up 75 per cent of the top 12 and closed out the competition owning four of the final six spots. “I think this is due to more females in the film industry as gender-bias barriers start to erode. It’s also part of a general female-empowerment cultural trend also evidenced in the #MeToo movement,” said Paul Armstrong, executive director/producer of Crazy8s. The Crazy8s competition sees filmmakers present their shortfilm idea in a four-minute video. Semifinalists then pitch in person to a jury of industry types. The final 12 get to workshop their script with a professional story editor. Six winners are chosen and given eight days, $1,000 and a production package (provided by local sponsors), with everything they ’ll need to make their film. The final six films will be screened at The Centre tonight at 7 p.m. The screening will be followed by the Crazy8s’ after-party at Science World. “It’s been fantastic. It’s been crazy. Running against time has been a real experience,” said Kailey Spear, who along with her twin sister, Sam Spear, wrote and directed the finalist film, CC. The 10-minute movie is about an AI nanny that assaults her employer. The Spears say getting their film completed depended on a lot of help from other filmmaking friends, including another set of twins, the director of photography brothers Nelson and Graham Talbot. “Crazy8s is such a fantastic opportunity to not only celebrate the Vancouver film community, but to support emerging filmmakers,” said Sam. The Spears added that their crew was pretty much 50-50 women to men. Milly Mumford, director/writer of the final-six film Gemini, is happy to see so many women represented among the Crazy8s’ finalists, but she doesn’t think that strong showing is strictly a highernumbers game. “Now it is how much attention and how much credibility we are given — I think how other people see us, as that starts to shift, we will notice a lot more female filmmakers.” Mumford’s 12-minute film is itself very timely as it looks at harassment and gender inequality. “Without giving too much away it is very much about a professional female gamer’s experience, specifically in virtual-reality space. The challenges in gender and the sexualized violence she experiences in that world,” said Mumford, as she talked recently from her editing suite — her Mount Pleasant living room. Like many women in the industry, Mumford sees that the best path forward is often going to be one she forges herself. “A lot of times I don’t like the roles for women that I am seeing and that I am reading. They’re not strong characters, they’re not complex characters. They ’re a plot device,” said Mumford, who is also a playwright. “I want to make sure we start flipping that balance.” The judging panel is a mix of industry professionals, some Crazy8s alumni and the media. The remaining films to make the final are as follows: Anaisa Visser’s Bordered is a drama about a U.S. border guard whose past returns to haunt him. In Extra- Ordinary Amy, director Christopher Graham and writer Zlatina Pacheva deliver a story about a young girl having to face life after the death of her parents. A washed-up badminton player looking for a comeback is at the centre of Melanie Jones’ short film, Shuttlecock. Small Fish from Maxime Beauchamp focuses on an artist trying to manage success.