By Travis Johnson
The doughty women at For Film’s Sake (formerly the WOW Film Festival) and WIFT are inaugurating the Big Pineapple film competition, which is designed to help female Australian film practitioners produce feature length films.
The initiative is a reaction to widespread gender disparity in the industry, where only 16% of directors are female, only 23% of screenwriters, 34% producers and as little as 7% of cinematographers.
Taking a cue from Screen Australia’s Three Tick system, in order to be eligible projects must past the Four Tick Test, with four out of five key roles – writer, producer, cinematographer, director, and lead protagonist – filled by women. Additionally, the four key creatives can only have two feature credits between them, encouraging beginning filmmakers to participate.
The Big Pineapple aims to give the winner a considerable package of funding and support: “a $50,000 cash prize to write and produce their feature film, and will receive substantial industry support including a distribution safety net through the Festival’s channels. So far the partners include Sydney based ZIGZAG Post, offering a full post-production package valued at $20,000, a further $20,000 in marketing materials from the Solid State, $5,000 in product sponsorship from RODE Microphones, $2,500 in production accounting support from Moneypenny and a $5,000 Distribution & Promotion plan from Fan-Force, making the total prize value in excess of $100,000. The finished film will be featured in the FFS (For Film’s Sake) Festival in April 2018.”
WIFT and FFS director Sophie Mathisen said,“We want to nurture more female filmmakers through active and visible initiatives rather than endless mentorships. Right now for every one female film director in Australia, there are 15 male directors. The screen industries are not reflective of our society and we need Festivals to be creating spaces for new female voices.”
The open call for one page submissions finishes on March 31. For more info, head to the website.
I entered this competition twice spending $100 for two different films. I never won, which is fine, however we were supposed to be told who won. I have written in and no reply. There were apparently 300 entries which would have made them $15,000.
Months ago when I found out my films were not selected the email said the winners would be announced shortly.
I am on the board of WIFT Vic. I support women in all aspects of film.
I still would like to know who was selected.
I am sure other entrants would also like to know
just search ‘big pineapple’ on this site, Naomi
Thanks Dov, Just saw that now. I did contact them a few times and no response.