While Connext 2023 is flying the flag for female filmmakers this week as backer Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), seeks to address the issue of gender inequality within the local film industry, producers underline this is only part of the story.
“Concerning VAF, there is a big difference and you feel the focus is on female producers and the female touch,” says financing expert and producer Helen Perquy at Jonnydepony, who is overseeing ambitious TV projects Arcadia and Hawaans Adam. “But if you ‘follow the money’, the profits for anything that becomes a success will always, 99% of the time, get into the pockets of male owners, male bosses.”
Jonnydepony was bought by the Benelux arm of multinational outfit Banijay earlier this year and Perquy points out that there is still “a lot more male than female owners” in the European TV business.
Perquy is echoed by Ivy Vanhaecke, who manages the fiction department at De Mensen, part of the Newen Group and behind Netflix hit Rough Diamonds. “There is also a younger generation [of female producers] and you see that entrepreneurship is also growing. If you look at owners of companies and decision makers in general that is still quite male-dominated. In bigger companies, there are lot of opportunities for women, but there is a gap at the top level — in ownership.”
Some 42% of the funds awarded by VAF in the last year have gone to projects directed by women.
“It’s a nice progression when you look where we were coming from,” reflects Koen Van Bockstal, CEO of the VAF. He points out that until comparatively recently, less than a third of its awards went to women. VAF also has an extra “impulse” grant which sets aside extra money for filmmakers whose previous projects have had strong female representation.
The fruits of this can be seen at Connext this week, with new projects from new and experienced female producers. In addition to Perquy and Vanhaecke, they include up-and-coming talent Elisa Heene, founder of production company Mirage Films which co-produced Fien Troch’s Venice competition entry Holly, alongside more experienced producers such as Hilde De Laere (Loft and Zillion) and Czar’s Eurydice Gysel whose credits range from Ex-Drummer to Skunk.
Then there’s producer Emmy Oost, well known for her work with Johan Grimonprez, who was recently in Venice Immersive with her VR project Floating With Spirits, directed by Juanita Onzaga; and Kato Maes, managing partner at Panenka, the production outfit behind successful shows Two Summers and The Vatican.
After 20 years in the industry, Gysel says that combining production with raising children remains as challenging as ever. “You have to travel a lot for your work, that’s a tough combination,” she reflects. “You have your obligations also at home.”
Former Prime Time exec Elisa Heene set up her production company Mirage, to make both fiction and documentary, in 2020. “I felt there was a lot of potential and a lot of female filmmakers,” she says, citing directors such as Fien Troch and Leni Huyghe, whose debut feature Real Faces is in development and due to shoot later this year.
But issues remain. “I don’t feel I am one of many [female producers in Flanders],” continues Heene. “I know I am not the only female producer, but I think it is predominantly men who are producers — certainly in fiction. Not only producers, also directors. If we can speak of a female wave, it’s at the starting point… I hope it will become bigger in the coming years.”
Still, she acknowledges that “awareness around gender equality” is growing. That, at least, is a cause for optimism.
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