Historic First: More Women than Men Directors in UT RTF Thesis Class Screening
I attended the screening Sunday May 19th of the UT-Austin RTF Undergraduate thesis production class. For the first time in the decades long history of RTF, there were more women than men directors in the thesis class. Congratulations to all the directors, crew and cast members of all the films. According to the printed program distributed at the screening, there were a total of 14 films created by 15 directors (one film had co-directors). 9 of the directors are women. 6 of the directors are men. Compare that to 2016, when 12 of the thesis films had men directors and 1 was directed by a woman. In 2017, it was 8 men and 3 women. In 2018, it was five and five. I started raising money for production grants a few years ago to support women and diverse directors in RTF. The grants given out since 2017 by Women In Cinema plus all the outreach and other activities they do have really had an impact! Thank you to major donors Kat Candler and the non-profit run by Michelle Voss, Moving Image Arts and Education!