The number of female Icelandic filmmakers has decreased since 2009, according to research by Guðrún Elsa Bragadóttir, a doctoral student and lecturer in film studies.
Guðrún talks about her findings in her chapter on women in the Icelandic film industry, written for Palgrave Macmillan’s book “Women in the International Film Industry: Policy, Practice and Power”, which was recently published in the UK.
She talks about her work in an interview with RÚV. Although the lack of statistical information on the subject made Guðrún’s work more difficult, what she could find in figures from Statistics Iceland’s reports showed how weak the position of women in the film industry is and only one in ten productions is made by women.
Not only that, but the number of female directors also seems to be declining.
Despite the fact that Icelandic filmmakers have achieved greater success internationally, such as the editors and BAFTA winners Valdís Óskarsdóttir and Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir, or Hildur Guðnadóttir, who won an Oscar for the film music for the film “Joker”.
“Apart from producers, where the number of women increases, they decrease in all other places in the industry,” says Guðrún. “This also applies to assistant directors and writers and in places where women are usually present. They have also decreased proportionally. “
Guðrún also took into account historical events due to her research, such as the establishment of the Film Fund in 1979 or economic shocks that reveal a certain tendency of men, for example, to strengthen their position. “They tend to lose their jobs faster in the beginning, but they tend to get a job again and keep it. Meanwhile, the same does not apply to women, “says Guðrún. “I’m not accusing men of conspiracy against women but some fraternity seems to be coming in, and without intending to, they are tightening the ranks.”
And although the situation is not great now, Guðrún is still positive and says that it is a fighting spirit, that she believes that more can be done and that we will see many great things from Icelandic women in the future.
Source: The Nordic Page
