Created F-Rated: Short Film Night – celebrating local female-driven filmmaking

Hats off to Maeve Smyth for producing an evening of short film screenings at the Strand Arts Centre to celebrate eight female-driven films. An event that didn’t just applaud the writers, directors and actors, but also remembered women who filled a host of other roles from make-up to director of photography behind the camera.

There was a lot more diversity on show than just sex or gender. The films were varied: rural and urban, fiction and documentary (though I was convinced for five minutes that the one about the UFO hunter would turn out to be a dark satire when it was indeed a true story), comedy, tragedy and everything in-between. Witches, aliens, surviving, belonging, prejudice, cross-cultural relationships, the construct of being ‘wife material’, satisfaction in the bedroom and beyond, single motherhood, maternal mental health, assisted dying and much, much more.

The question of whether some of these stories would have been created or showcased if the projects hadn’t been led by women was asked. There’s no definitive answer. But it’s clear that a more diverse pool of creative talent – which remained stubbornly male and white but has now begun to open up – will produce richer stories and shine a light on previously unexplored subjects.

An F-Rating can be applied to all films which are directed by women and/or written by women. If the film also has significant women on screen, it receives a Triple F-Rating

Filmmakers’ responses to Marie-Louise Muir’s questions after each screen highlighted the value of NI Screen Short Film and BBC Two Minute Masterpiece schemes (available to view online), which often created opportunities for people in adjacent sectors to diversify and try their hand at writing and directing short films.

Events like this and the wonderful Film Devour Short Film Festival (submissions closed but tickets now available for their 34th event coming up in The Black Box on 26 February) are good opportunities to enjoy what local short film producers are creating, to build up the confidence of those involved (there’s nothing like your peers applauding your efforts), and to recognise the talent that is out there.

Diana Cheung, Louise Parker, Erin O’Rawe, Edel McCormick, Lauren McCune, Maeve Smyth, Emily Foran, Katie Bridget Murphy, Jennifer Atcheson and Aisling Daly ... in a few years time, will one or more of those up on the Strand Arts Centre stage be writing or directing their first feature?