With Eyes Wide Open: Gender Equality in the Polish Film Industry

Abstract

The struggle to formalize gender equality in the Polish film industry doesn’t have a long history but already some successes. In 2014, the Polish Female Filmmakers Association was established and marked the beginning of an ongoing activism to tackle the uneven distribution of funding and recognition of Polish female filmmakers. The commitment to challenge this situation has been debated and discussed during almost every film festival organized in Poland. Finally, during the 41st edition of the Polish Film Festival in 2016 in Gdynia, not only was a debate organized on how women can succeed in the masculine world of the film industry but importantly the Polish Film Institute announced its commitment to apply formal gender policies in its statute. From now, the Committee of Experts, responsible for the evaluation of applications for funding, has to consist of at least 35% women experts. During the same year, a pilot study on the situation of women in the industry was commissioned by EWA Network, the Council of Europe’s Eurimages Fund and the Polish Female Filmmakers Association. The report was launched during a conference “Missing Creativity: Gender Equality in the European Film Industry: Focus on Poland” and was the first attempt to quantify the film industry from a gender perspective. According to Monika Talarczyk-Gubala, author of the study, this research showed that a strong opposition to gender equality interventions exists in the community. When representatives of the film industry learned about her research, both males and females expressed they are against any formal regulations of the industry, as this brings back memories of the interventionist era of communism. In addition to quantitative research, in-depth qualitative inquiry is thus necessary to understand and critically examine the struggle for gender equality in the contemporary film production culture in Poland. This chapter will attempt to provide such an inquiry. Drawing on in-depth interviews with representatives of the industry, it will provide an analysis of the ongoing activism to achieve gender equality in the film industry in Poland. It will not only explore the motives, challenges, successes and setbacks of those who are fighting for equality in this industry, but also attempt to answer the question of what it means to be a female filmmaker in contemporary Poland.