Haamada 1
Rehovot
Israel
- Arts
- Gender
- Human rights
- International/Cultural relations
- Media
- Youth and education
Objectives of the association:
*To promote and expose films made by women from Israel and the world
*To change the status of women filmmakers in the film and television industry in Israel
*To promote equality and social justice for women using women-made film
*To expose the Israeli audience to films directed by women, which focus on women and their world.
In order to fulfill our goals, we have established a pioneering international film festival in Israel, that focuses on films directed by women only and which put women and their world in their center. These festivals have as a long tradition in Europe, but in Israel this is the first festival focusing on advancing films made by women. Such films allow a profound critical look on our lives and we believe that they can lead a social and conscious change among the audience.
The association’s activity focuses on curating exceptional fascinating programs of film by women world wide. During the International Women’s Film Festival in Rehovot, a large audience is exposed to the films and in the months following the festival, films, meetings and seminars go out from the festival to other towns and cities around the country from north to south. The objective is to maximize the exposure of such films, alongside a novel public discourse which is to challenge existing patterns in Israeli society and allow a new look on our lives here.
The Association's signature project is the International Women's Film Festival in Rehovot whose mission is first and foremost, to allow women to desire, to create, and to reveal their work.
Each year the festival screens approximately 70 films directed by women from Israel, Europe, USA and other locations. The Festival grants the extraordinary opportunity of direct encounters with filmmakers, the opportunity for female debate on selected social and humanistic fields, and of course, the viewing of a variety of films.
In addition to promoting and advancing women film makers, the Association is dedicated to promoting equality and women's rights, especially in peripheral locations where traditional roles are still common and women have fewer opportunities to advance and express themselves. This project aims to raise awareness to the status and advancement of women in the periphery through the screening of films created by women which feature women and their worlds.
In 2008, the association also started to award Israeli filmmakers with grants to allow them to continue their work in the film industry. In order to increase the representation of women in the film and television industries as well as to change the sad statistics of 5% representation of women out of all filmmakers.