Each week on the podcast, presenter and Irish Times journalist Kathy Sheridan asks listeners a question. This week in the question was prompted by the second annual Feminist Film Festival (feministfilmfestivaldublin.com) which runs in Dublin from Thursday 30th October to November 1st.
Sheridan asked: “What film should every woman watch and why?” Her own choice was a movie that was made nearly 25 years ago, Thelma and Louise.
Some interesting facts from the Feminist Film Festival website: Of the 2000 biggest grossing films over the last 20 years women accounted for only 13% of the editors, 10% of the writers and just 5% of the directors. More than three-quarters of the crew have been men, while only 22% were women. Visual effects, usually the largest department for big feature films, had an average of only 17.5% of women, while music had just 16%, and camera and electricals were, on average, 95% male.
“So you can see why there might be a need for a feminist film festival,” said Sheridan.
To get involved email thewomenspodcast@irishtimes.com or tell us through facebook and twitter @itwomenspodcast telling us what film every woman should watch and why.
Last week’s question marked the release of Conor Horgan’s documentary Queen of Ireland. We wanted to know who you would crown the Queen of Ireland. Here are some of your responses:
Elaine said: “I think Briege Corkery should be in with a shout for Queen of Ireland. Granted, she’s from Cork but with 16 All Ireland medals to her name by the age of 28 (10 for football and 6 for camogie) I reckon she’s definitely up to the challenge.”
Grainne nominated Sinead O’Connor as Queen of Ireland because “she speaks the truth and is always able to see beyond the claustrophobic bullshit of Irish society.”
George got in touch to say that his Queen of Ireland would be Mrs Brown. Sheridan said while she wasn’t a fan of royalty in general, she thought the Queenship of Ireland should be on rotation and given that marriage equality was signed into law last week, the first crown should go to TV3’s Ursula Halligan who wrote so eloquently about her own coming out.
The Women’s Podcast is uploaded every Monday on irishtimes.com. Individual episodes of the podcast are available on Soundcloud, iTunes and Stitcher.
