Dublin Feminist Film Festival
Update June 2022: We have taken a difficult decision to take this year to regroup and recalibrate. DFFF has been run voluntarily since 2014, we have hugely appreciated and valued our audiences, collaborators and sponsors so much throughout the years and we hope to bring something more to the table for the future of women in film. Stay tuned.
Dublin Feminist Film Festival has established firm roots on Dublin’s cultural calendar since 2014, shining a spotlight on women in film. DFFF promotes and celebrates female filmmakers, hoping to inspire and empower others to get involved in filmmaking.
This involves considering women on-screen, but also behind the camera, through the dual-aspect of celebrating and showcasing fantastic female filmmaking, as well as demonstrating that women make compelling and complex characters and subjects. DFFF is a celebratory couple of days and our commitment to inclusive art is reflected in the programme each year, showcasing a range of work, from documentary to drama, short form to feature, films from different places and representing different perspectives, as well as work by women-of-colour. Anywhere and everywhere that we mention ‘women’ we mean anyone who identifies as a woman.
Since 2014, Dublin Feminist Film Festival has screened features, documentaries and shorts from around the world. We’re proud to have brought to the screen films directed by women from Argentina, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Canada, Turkey, and other countries far and wide. It’s all part of our mission to showcase and celebrate female filmmaking in all its many forms. No national cinema in the world has anything close to parity when it comes to female filmmakers. And while each country has its own unique set of conditions, even those that are actively promoting and supporting female filmmaking are far from finding equal footing. Sweden, for example, a country that very actively promotes female filmmaking and which has the highest proportion of women-directed films of any in the world, saw roughly 38% of its films directed by women in 2016.
Ireland is no different. Despite a high-profile and highly active push to increase the number of films directed by women here, the number continues to hover around 20% in any given year. We have a relatively young national cinema, and, as our timeline shows, women’s participation in the industry has developed in fits in starts. But even with growing vocal demands for inclusion and a national film board dedicated to promoting female filmmakers, 20% is far too low a number.
WHO WE ARE
DFFF is comprised of a team of volunteers dedicated to promoting the work of women.
“ Historically there has been an unconscious bias towards female directors in the film business. Female directors and also producers can contribute massively by using film as a means of sharing their stories. It’s about creating a culture where a female vision and talent can impact artistically to produce meaningful, engaging and diverse movies. - Aoife O’Toole Director DFFF”