Women Film Workers

"Art is beautiful, but it makes work", said Karl Valentin in Max Ophüls' comedy "The Bartered Bride" (1932). This playfully refers to the nature of the medium of film, which has been a hybrid from the beginning: film is art, but it is also work! All too often the terms are played off against each other: Sometimes film is a cultural asset, sometimes a lucrative commodity, and it is paid differently, well or badly. It becomes dramatic when film professions are put in their feminine form: Women film artists and film workers are still struggling for recognition and fair pay. The term "film worker" is also found in the name of the Association of Women Film Workers, which was founded in 1979 by Claudia von Alemann, Ulrike Ottinger, Helke Sander, Ulla Stöckl and Margarete von Trotta, among others. Ten years later, the association filed a constitutional complaint for gender parity in the composition of film funding bodies, which was only one of many initiatives to establish a more gender-equal distribution and visibility of women in the film sector. Since then, some feminist ideas have certainly had an effect, and even in this country, filmmakers were making their own reality the starting point for their films even before the dawn of the New Women's Movement. But despite all the changes and successes, the (film) conditions are (still) not like that! On International Women's Day, which is celebrated worldwide on 8 March, the fragile working conditions of female filmmakers are brought into focus. Equal Pay Day also comes into focus: it symbolically marks the day until which women work for free while men are already paid. The exact date varies every year, but in Germany it falls on 7 March 2023. Our collection presents, representative of many, 20 female film workers who do great things in different areas of film production. Whether acting, directing, writing, cinematography, composing or editing: In all fields, women film workers deserve due credit for their merits. Alles was kommt: Mia Hansen-Løve, Regie Annas Sommer: Jeanine Meerapfel, Regie, Drehbuch Brownian Movement: Sandra Hüller, Schauspiel Der lange Sommer der Theorie: Irene von Alberti, Regie, Drehbuch Die Fremde: Judith Kaufmann, Kamera Die geheimnisvolle Minusch: Tamara Bos, Drehbuch, Autorin Die Gewählten: Mechtild Barth, Schnitt Die Manns: Barbara Baum, Kostümbild Eine Couch in New York: Chantal Akermann, Regie, Drehbuch Lebwohl, meine Königin: Noémie Lvovsky, Schauspiel, Regie, Drehbuch Marceline. Eine Frau. Ein Jahrhundert. Cordelia Dvorak, Regie, Drehbuch, Kostümbild, Produktion Marseille: Angela Schanelec, Regie, Drehbuch, Schauspiel Ostkreuz: Sophie Maintigneux, Kamera Paris Calligrammes: Ulrike Ottinger, Regie, Drehbuch, Kamera Pünktchen und Anton: Caroline Link, Regie Ruina: Gesa Marten, Drehbuch Urmila für die Freiheit: Susan Gluth, Regie, Drehbuch, Produktion Vergiss mein ich: Maria Schrader, Regie, Schauspiel Waldheims Walzer: Ruth Beckermann, Regie, Drehbuch, Produktion Wer wenn nicht wir: Annette Focks, Komposition