We have more great perks for donating to the grants initiative to support women and diverse filmmakers at UT. All of the perks are available on the crowdfunding donation page.

The New Orleans Film Society donated 2 All-Access Badges to the New Orleans Film Festival (October 12-20, 2016). Celebrating its 27th anniversary this year, the Oscar®-qualifying New Orleans Film Festival has firmly established itself on the regional film fest circuit as one of the most reputable in the country. It was named by MovieMaker Magazine as one of the “25 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” in their 2012, 2013, and 2014 editions, and it was also named by Premium Beat as one of the “Fifteen Fests You Should Enter.”

 

Bunkhouse has donated a 1 night stay in a Poolside Bungalow (Sun-Wed) at their luxury boutique Hotel Saint Cecilia in Austin. The Saint Cecilia, named for the patron saint of music, was designed by local hotelier Liz Lambert. The property is the epitome of cool: Lambert drew inspiration from artists, musicians and writers from the 1960s and 70s. A Poolside Bungalow has 600 sq ft. All have Hastens king beds with sitting areas separated by French doors, private patios, wet bars and great views. (Value over $600).

 

Bunkhouse has also donated a 1 night stay at the Hotel San José, a hotel for friends from near and far in Austin, Texas. Built in 1936 as an “ultramodern” motor court, the property has been transformed into a 40 room urban bungalow-style hotel tucked behind stucco walls and set amidst lush garden courtyards. The San José is located on South Congress Avenue, a few blocks from downtown and Lady Bird Johnson Lake in the heart of one of Austin’s favorite neighborhoods. In addition to being a unique place to sleep, the Hotel San José serves as a gathering place and occasional hub of community activity for locals and visitors alike.

 

Mariana Gonzalez, a current RTF student at UT, on why she supports the initiative to raise funds for women and diverse filmmakers: “As a woman aspiring to work in the film industry it has become routine to find a lack of women in upper level courses and out in the field. Currently in my advanced production class I am 1 out of 3 women in a class of over 20 students. I think this is a great initiative because I believe it will encourage women studying film to take the upper-division courses and share their voices, including myself. We need more young women in these courses and more collaborations with women- there is no reason for crews and productions to be male dominated and they don’t have to be.”

Donate here.

If you donate $250, you can name one of the grants one semester after yourself, a family member, an organization or a business. See the donation page for more details how we will honor you or one of your family members.

We have launched the initiative to raise funds to provide production grants to women and diverse filmmakers in RTF at The University of Texas at Austin.

Donate here. If you donate $250, you can name one of the grants one semester after yourself or a family member. See the donation page for more details how we will honor you or one of your family members.

We want to end the days when any film student at UT walks into class on the first day and sees only 1, 2, 3, maybe 5 women in a class of 20. The goal of this initiative, organized by students and alumni, is to raise funds for production grants to support women and diverse filmmakers taking advanced filmmaking production classes in RTF at The University of Texas at Austin.

We are changing film school now, so that we can change Hollywood tomorrow.

Working to End Gender Disparity and Increase Diversity in Film Production Classes at UT

The grants would be open for submissions from people enrolled in certain classes including Advanced Narrative Production, 16mm Production, Advanced Directing, Cinematography, and Undergraduate Thesis. We hope to raise $10,000, which would allow us to give out at least 5 grants each semester of up to $250 each for several years. The amount and number of grants depends on how much we raise. Each semester, we will recruit judges to choose the grant recipients.

The grants will be administered by Women in Cinema, an official UT student organization.

This initiative will benefit film students in RTF, but to understand the wider issue, consider this: in the history of the Oscars only four women have ever been nominated for Best Director and only one woman has ever won the Academy Award for Best Director; no woman has ever even been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.

Why we are doing this

Morgyn Utzman, RTF senior, Women in Cinema officer, says “a sad reality we are facing in school is the fact that women, the more specialized the production classes get, the fewer women register for those classes. The socialization of women in art is a problem that needs addressing, and incentivizing registering for production classes through a scholarship can make a huge difference in diversity.”

We want to submit to film festivals, but the fees quickly add up. If you would like to help us cover the costs of submitting to film festivals, you can make a donation. Getting accepted and attending film festivals is an important part of the process of building exposure for filmmakers, including for our cast members and crew. Festivals are where you network and meet other filmmakers that you may one day work with on another film. When an actor is in a film at a festival, it helps them get exposure to get cast in more films.

Any donations are gratefully accepted.