Ooh la la, the excitement, the energy, the mix of creative, powerfully artistic human beings describes the fourth edition of Melanie Wise and Zac Baldwin’s brainchild – the Artemis Women In Action Film Festival! It was our first time there and AGENDA was honored to co-sponsor. We love niche, and this is one festival that focuses on a very specific one.
Featured in our April/May 2018 issue of Agenda magazine, Artemis Women In Action Film Festival founder and director Melanie Wise opened up about the launch, mission, and running of a film festival geared for women in action and strong female characters. Also that same print issue featured actress Ming-Na Wen, who was to be honored with the Artemis Action Paladin Award for consistently portraying characters who use their skills to protect and help others at the awards gala shortly after the issue published. It was a great honor to be able to interview both such incredibly driven and forward moving women, who had one goal in mind – to show the movie making world and its eager audiences that women are indeed BADASS!
Wise has helped to raise the consciousness of people and she has changed the paradigm that women are not these weak humans who need rescuing. This has been the common theme in Hollywood for over a century. Most of us who were fortunate enough to go to the Artemis screenings, witness the award ceremony with the assembly of stuntwomen and action honorees, female directed or produced independent films came back more informed, more entertained, more enlightened, and proud as heck to either be a female or to know one! The mission of AWIAFF has become GOSPEL and the WORD is spreading like wild fire.
The fourth edition AWIAFF’s lead sponsor was CAA, it was presented by Paul Feig, and had a host of celebrities, including Michelle Rodriguez, Zöe Bell, Rosemary Rodriguez, Richard Portnow, and a endless list of supporters. But now that Ms. Wise has had a chance to recuperate from a successful fourth edition, she has risen like the phoenix and is at it again with her team, managing the daunting task of preparing for another go-round!
Interview by Agenda Magazine
Responses by Melanie Wise
Agenda – Melanie, share some highlights of 2018 AWIAFF
Melanie Wise – Our last edition was the bomb! I was so incredibly pleased because we were able to honor our very first female director, Rosemary Rodriguez. Since our festival celebrates powerful women, it was really a great honor, and so very perfect, to finally be able to recognize a female director at a festival with a focus such as ours. And in all honesty, our whole team felt so grateful to be able to recognize our 2018 honorees (Michelle Rodriguez, Ming-Na Wen, Rosemary Rodriguez, TJ Scott, Dana DeLorenzo, and stunt performers Debbie Evan, Alicia Vela-Bailey, Danielle Burgio, Heidi Pascoe, Kachina Dechert and Cassandra Ebner). Each of them were so deserving and some of them have never been publicly recognized for their contributions to female action and empowerment heroes onscreen.
(Above Photos: Faye Sadou)
One of the most fun moments for me was watching Dot Marie Jones drive her Harley Davidson right onto our black carpet. The photographers and bystanders didn’t expect it and it certainly turned into one of our best photo moments.
Our Awards Gala was super special. I’m always very floored and so grateful when our honorees are interviewed – the willingness to directly address parity issues, share wisdom relevant to being female in the film industry and impart perspectives on being strong, powerful and a woman – it’s a rare opportunity to have such a beautiful, inside view of some truly badass women and men.
Every year, I am so very proud of the programming we offer. We get an amazing variety of narrative films in all genres with female characters that are stunning. Our documentaries recount stories of real life heroes of all walks of life that most people have never heard of. The pieces of unknown history we get to share just tickles the hell out of me – though I’m saddened that the stories are so unknown. And our 2018 edition was not only not an exception, it was also a critical leap on several fronts. Our festival truly stretches the boundaries of how our culture defines women. That dimensional shift is long overdue and sorely needed in a world landscape that has such rigid ideas of gender roles.
Agenda – What is in store for 2019?
Melanie Wise – Seriously! I haven’t the faintest clue yet. I can say that every year we kick it outta the park in terms of programming an amazing event that showcases an incredible grade of films And every stitch of what we play celebrates powerful women, front and center.
Agenda – Has your mission changed over the last four years?
Melanie Wise – It hasn’t. We set out to create an event dedicated to strong, empowered women onscreen. We were the first. That precept has been our true north since day one, and it shall remain so. There are many aspects of strength, power and empowerment. From the outset of the festival, it was certainly my aim to celebrate as many of those aspects as possible.
For a very long time, I’ve believed that female action heroes of all kinds had incredible, but untapped box office potential. I’ve spent many years working to create this type of content and put it out into the world. I can say I failed miserably. Feedback you’d get was women in action were box office poison or some other well-worn excuse. I spent a pile of time pouring over box office statistics going back 4 – 5 decades. I was able to find compelling anecdotal data that proved contrary to Hollywood trends. The sad part was female led action films were not getting a similar number of swings as compared to male led action films. Male led action films absolutely had the power to fail without retribution, something sorely lacking for female led action films. The festival was really born out of a need to demonstrate that these types of films were being made and that audiences very much wanted to see them. And finally! BOOM! Wonder Woman hit the world. It was the very first female led superhero film that was financed and marketed to a near degree as male led superhero films. That film broke all kinds of box office records. Hollywood is starting to get it – many of these types of films are now showing up on studio production schedules.
Agenda – Tell me about any changes or additions you’re making for 2019?
Melanie Wise – Funny you asked. Our first year, our submissions guidelines were limited strictly to films that starred or co-starred a female lead that was in physical action. Our second year, we moved the festival to our current home, The Ahrya Fine Arts Theater, which allowed us to accommodate larger audiences. In year three, we expanded our submission guidelines to include stories of empowerment, which opened our programming to include stories about proactive women (for narrative, think films like “Erin Brockovich” or “Hidden Figures” and documentaries like “India’s Daughter”). In our last edition, we expanded to two screens, and broadened our panels and workshops several fold. So this year! Presently … I’m thinking, in terms of our film festival, we are going to stick to last year’s model! Every year, we expanded. And every year, our growth is pretty amazing. And wait, there’s more . . .
Agenda – You’re adding a music side to the festival, tell me about that?
Melanie Wise – YES! That is the plan. It’s been on my mind for about 2 years to expand the festival to include female musicians. And I knew with the growth we were running our butts off to keep up with, the timing wasn’t quite right. A mutual friend introduced me to Kaylene Peoples, a brilliant musician and fantastic composer, not to mention she’s fantastically educated. She opened the Artemis Awards Gala in our 2018 edition with an amazing musical performance. After the event, I asked if she’d be interested in helping me bring music to Artemis. I was incredibly excited when she said yes because her background is pitch perfect. Very soon, we will open submissions for female led bands and Women film score writers. Artemis is incorporating a women’s music festival next year.
Agenda – Yes, there is a serious wall that has been blocking women from gaining recognition and exposure as composers in documented history. A real honest way for composers to make a living is to score films. Unfortunately, there are very few women who get that job. I’m mostly referring to studio films and television. We may be doing the work – meaning orchestrating, composing, but it only equates to meager wages and no credits. I am so onboard with women led bands being the theme of your music festival.
Melanie Wise – I cannot think of a better companion for badass women of the screen than badass women of music.
Agenda – You have opened submissions for next year’s festival, what do you see will be different and what will you predict will not change.
Melanie Wise – We always get extraordinary content. I am certain this year will be no exception. What I am very pleased to witness is the number of female directors submitting narrative action is growing every year. In our first year, we received a very small number of narrative pieces with a female director at the helm. We are seeing a steep rise in female directors. It’s very lovely to see women directing stories that boast strong female characters.
Agenda – Have any filmmakers from your festival gone on to bigger things?
Melanie Wise – They have. In our inaugural year, the Best Feature “Awaken” went on to DVD distribution; in 2016 the Best Feature “Never Let Go” and Best Documentary “SMART” garnered DVD distribution; our 2017 Best Feature “Quarries” and Official Selections “Beyond the Trek” and “Mabel, Mabel, Tiger Trainer also went on to DVD distribution. And, I think I may be missing some as well. There are several films that screened at our last edition that I’m sure will also move into distribution.
Additionally, we created the #WomenKickAss Library, a content library dedicated to films that fit the festival’s criteria. It is the first comprehensive content library focused on films with powerful female leads. The library does include films that have previously screened at the festival. So the library is also serving our filmmakers to get their content into the world. Our library also includes traditionally produced studio films and tv shows. We have almost 5 decades of content with strong female leads. The library is here: www.WomenKickAss.com
We offer Artemis reviews, action, empowerment and visibility ratings for each film included. We also allow users to search the library by genre, gender of creator, title, cast, etc. – it’s actually a very cool location, especially for those who are looking to explore content that features female leads.
Agenda – How do women play a role in your festival?
Melanie Wise – Simply, they are the centerpiece of it! I don’t think I can say it better than Joanna Ke, who attended our 2018 Awards Gala and whose film was among official selections:
“I just wanted to say THANK YOU for an amazing festival honoring women! I realized when I was sitting in the theater at the awards ceremony that I had never been in a room FULL of people laser focused on strong women like that. It was so inspiring! Thank you for gathering so many visionaries that speak the same empowerment language in one place. It meant a lot to me and it was an honor to have a film there.”
Agenda – How do men play a role in your festival?
Melanie Wise – For men who love strong women, our festival is like dying and going to amazon heaven. Part of the festival is spent recognizing those talented individuals who contribute to the female action genre. So far, our male honorees include Paul Feig, Tom Cruise, Andy Armstrong and TJ Scott for being pioneering forces on this front. And we will continue to recognize men of this caliber.
The majority of narrative directors in our official selections is male. I’ve worked very hard to be very inclusive of men because I do not believe segregation of the sexes is beneficial. I do not think art is well served without the masculine of the species well represented. One of the festival founders is male. I always want to have a very strong male presence in our festival. Additionally, I do think women need to be exposed to a male perspective of female strength and empowerment.
(All images not credited are courtesy of Artemis.)
Tom Cruise’s Acceptance Speech – AWIAFF 2015
Submissions have opened for the Artemis Women In Action Film Festival Fifth Edition. Visit www.artemisfilmfestival.com to learn more about this amazing opportunity to not only gain exposure as a filmmaker, musician or composer, but to become part of a movement to see females as the strong life forces they are . . . and have ALWAYS been!
Press Release:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/the_artemis_women_in_action_film_festival_fifth_edition_is_open_for_submissions/prweb15711918.htm
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