Women in Film / a celebration at English Riviera Film Fest

“There’s so much talent, and they are all locally based,” filmmaker, photographer and creative Grace Clifford is telling us about the Women in Film panel that’s part of the English Riviera Film Festival.

Grace hosts the Women of Film Panel. She’d been involved with the ERFF previously and is a judge again this year. But it’s the Women in Film that we’re asking about.

Women of Film Panel at the English Riviera Film Festival

What we’ve achieved

“When we started chatting it wasn’t just specifically about the woe of women in film – because it can be quite difficult – but more of a celebration and a general discussion about what we’ve achieved as a whole, as individuals and how that’s impacted our experience,” says Grace.

Panel

The panel covers all corners of the industry. Claire Bueno is a film journalist and producer of the feature documentary Cleanin’ Up The Town: Remembering Ghostbusters. Annushka Rogers is a costumier. Victoria Lucie is a Devon-born actor, singer and model, having recently made her West End Debut as Miss Casewell in The Mousetrap. Amanda Rowe is a producer and composer best known for sci-fi features Alien Outbreak and Robot World. And Lucy Townsend is an actor as well as a director of shorts and a feature.

Compelled

“We all describe filmmaking as a bit of an addiction,” says Grace, “Something that you just know you have to do.”

Of course, Covid-19 rears its head, but the talk accentuates the positive, how the enforced change of behaviour could springboard creatives into thinking a way around it and highlighting how we all need culture.