Agnès Varda’s Faces Places (Villages Visages)
It may score low on D-rating (documentary) but the upcoming FilmBath Festival (October 28-November 4) scores a whopping 79% on its F-Rating, meaning that more than three-quarters of festival selections are directed by women.
The internationally recognised F-Rating, devised by FilmBath executive director Holly Tarquini in 2014, is an easily identifiable label applied to films by cinemas and festivals, enabling moviegoers to choose cinematic gems that fairly represent women both on screen and behind the camera. Highlighting these films sends a clear message to distributors, producers and funders that women can and should have more than just a supporting role within the industry.
More than 90 national and international cinemas, film festivals and organisations have so far adopted the rating system.
“Our aim is to amplify diversity on screen and behind the camera, and as we at FilmBath are the founders of the F-Rating it is perhaps unsurprising that 79% of the films we’re screening are directed by women,” explains Tarquini to Business Doc Europe. She adds that, “London Film Festival by contrast only features 39% of films directed by women.”
An additional Triple F-Rating is applied to films featuring “significant women on screen in their own right,” she further points out.
“The stories we see on screen need to be told by a broad spectrum of people to represent our diverse culture,” Tarquini writes on the F-Rating website. “Unless we apply much needed change, we will be training the next generation to recognise only white males as the protagonists and the ones in control of the cameras, scripts and budgets. As well as equality on screen and behind the camera, more female film critics from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities need to be welcomed into the industry so that opinion and feedback is balanced. The gender pay gap is also evident in the industry. By helping women gain recognition we can empower them to negotiate the contracts and salaries they deserve and help close the gap.”
The Bath documentary selection is small in 2021 but nevertheless (re)introduces local audiences to one of the greats of European cinema, the late Agnès Varda with her Triple F-Rated Faces Places (Villages Visages, 2017). Also selected is the Sundance 2021 F-Rated hit Ailey, directed by Jamila Wignot (US).
“I love Agnès Varda – who doesn’t? – and Faces Places is my favourite of her films. I love that, despite being in her late 80s, she was still insatiably curious about the world and experienced so much fun and joy in her art and in others,” comments Tarquini. “I am really looking forward to learning more about the dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey. Changing up the usual talking heads bio-doc which we are used to, Wignot’s documentary intersperses the life of Ailey with the modern Ailey dance company who are creating a tribute to the man and his work. I can’t wait to watch both on the big screen with a festival audience.”
The 2021 Film Bath opens on 29 October with Eve Husson’s Mothering Sunday starring Odessa Young, Olivia Coleman, Colin Firth and Josh O’Connor, with Q&As from the film’s producers, Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley.
Another initiative of FilmBath is the yearly IMDb Awards event that supports and rewards emerging talent with the Script to Screen and the New Filmmaker gongs.
