Flickerfest festival director Bronwyn Kidd has supported a Screen Australia push for more female Australian film talent with the announcment of 21 female directors in this year's competitive program.
Kidd, who will steer her 19th festival in January, told IF that Flickerfest aimed to find a good balance between male and female directors despite only about 35 per cent of entries coming from females.
"For us, it's important to show support for as many female directors and writers as possible and the program reflects that," she said.
"There's some fantastic emerging directors and writers out there.
"We had 800 entries from Australians this year and we are conscious of programming.
"We are always looking out for talented young female directors coming through.
"It's great because we are at this nurturing stage, providing a platform for these filmmakers to have ongoing careers in the industry.
The program release follows Screen Australia's $5 million investment to adress the gender imbalance in the Australian film industry.
According to Screen Australia, the imbalance is most notable in tradtional film with 32 per cent of women working as producers, 23 per cent as writers and only 16 per cent as directors.
The screen funding body has unveiled a plan which includes an immediate $3 million allocation of ‘jump start’ funding to get female-led projects production-ready within two years, and a further $2 million of support for placements, distribution incentives, marketing and industry networking.
This also includes a goal to have production funding targeted at teams that are at least 50 per cent female by the end of 2018.
Kidd has applauded the new initiative of Screen Australia and said she hoped it would help more females carve out long successful careers.
"It's really important to be proactive otherwise it's just not going to happen," she said.
"There's such a small percentage of female directors and writers, so to recognise that it's an issue is very important.
"It's something that I have been conscious for many years and I am thrilled to have 21 female directors – almost 50 per cent.
Kidd said Flickerfest had helped the careers of successful female directors including Cate Shortland (Berlin Syndrome) and Jenny Kent (Babadook).
She also said there was a wave of talent in coming through including Kate Halpin, Corrie Chen, Kacie Anning, Dena Curtis, Lauren Brunswick and Bec Penniston-Bird.
"What Screen Australia is doing to encourage development is great. It's about trying to nurture women so they don't make a film and then disappear off the radar," she said.
"We will continue to nurture and be a platform that hopefully can be supported by the other initiatives and allow talent to keep moving forward.
"Showing promise and then not being nurtured to go on to a successful career."