Abstract
This research project investigates a film festival approach to public engagement as research utilising the case study Shextreme Film Festival: the world’s first film festival celebrating women in extreme sports and adventure. It explores how engaging with communities through Shextreme Film Festival leads to three key research findings. First, it results in a new understanding of industry gaps and barriers facing female adventure filmmakers and photographers, which leads to a co-designed international training and support network. Second, it reveals the positive role a film festival approach may play in measurably increasing awareness improving the representation of active women on screen and behind the camera in adventure filmmaking. Finally, applying a film festival approach to public engagement explores the impact film festival programming may have in changing behaviours examining how Shextreme film screenings encourages more women to participate in outdoor adventure sports, which leads to increased mental wellbeing in women. This collection documents a multi component output with contextualising information outlining a research timeline and research questions, audio-visual summaries of film events, audience feedback infographics, an 'Impact of Shextreme' documentary, a journal article, the development of international educational workshops, a commissioned Industry Report on female adventure filmmakers, a compilation of press articles featuring Shextreme Film Festival, a Women in Adventure: Mental Wellbeing Industry Report and documentation of developing an international network: Shextreme Alliance.
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