15. November 2018
by SchspIN
Comments Off on Two German Series: BABYLON BERLIN and CLASH OF THE FUTURES
This text is about two German TV series, set between the two world wars in Germany and other parts of Europe. Unfortunately I haven’t done the English version yet but hope to do so soon, at the latest when the TV series KRIEG DER TRÄUME / CLASH OF FUTURES is broadcast in English speaking countries. BABYLON BERLIN apparently has already been screened by Sky Atlantic.
27. October 2018
by SchspIN
Comments Off on Touring the Irish Isle – #WakingTheFeminists
A couple of weeks ago, invited by Irish Equity and Equity Scotland & Northern Ireland, I presented my gender diversity tool NEROPA in front of representatives from theatres and the film industry in Dublin and Belfast.
Today I want to give a very brief account of my days on the green isle and introduce and thank the people who made this all possible. Also I am very happy that the two great ladies who gave the key note introductions at the events – Sarah Durcan in Dublin (“We need to Talk about Power and Representation”) and Maggie Cronin in Belfast (“We have Come a Long Way and still have a Long Way to Go”) – have kindly given me permission to reproduce the bigger parts of their speeches.
As some of you may know, since shortly after I started my analysis and blogging, I have been in regular contact with Jean Rogers of Equity UK (read my interview with her Well done, sister Equity! from 2013) and half a year after I published my method NEROPA Neutral Roles Parity in January 2016, I met Jean and other female film activists at Equity in London (read SchspIN in London). And eventually, this January, initiated by Jean Rogers and the Women’s Committee, Equity UK and the BFI held a NEROPA symposium in London.
Not too long after this I was contacted by Lorne Boswell from the Equity Glasgow office who suggested an Irish / Northern Irish double act with NEROPA and introduced me to Karan O’Loughlin of the republic’s [Weiterlesen – Read On]
26. September 2018
by SchspIN
Comments Off on Cleverer Girls
School girls are better at school, they are more likely to skip a class than school boys, who often even have to repeat classes.
What do I base this premise on?
On an analysis of the age of students when they take their A-Levels (or rather the German equivalent, the Abitur). Male pupils are usually older than their female classmates, which means that they probably had to repeat a year or two, or maybe started school altogether a year or so late. So maybe they are not neccessarily more stupid, but just late bloomers who take longer to learn things. The female pupils on the other hand are really good at school and skip one or two classes on their way to the Abitur. Of course there are exceptions to the rules in both groups.
There are two contraints though: for one, this is not a theory for the 21st century. And on top of this, it only refers to fictional school graduates in film and television.
“Klassentreffen” is the German word for Class Reunion.
There are two new class reunion films out in Germany this year, KLASSENTREFFEN 1.0 – THE UNBELIEVABLE Continue Reading →
10. September 2018
by SchspIN
Comments Off on Listen to What the Man says
On September 1, Germany‘s national football team played a very important World Cup qualifying match in Iceland, the Germans won 2-0, which wasn‘t to be expected 100 %, since at their last meeting in October 2017 in Germany, Iceland‘s team won 3:2. When I returned from shooting a film in the evening, obviously not having been able to watch the match on German public TV ZDF, I turned on the radio to find out about the result. Without luck, since Deutschlandfunk Kultur, a public radio station, only talked about the men‘s football league on their news quite extensively. But not a word about the international match. They weren‘t the only ones to ignore Iceland vs. Germany though.
Foto: SchspIN
Again and again we hear less from women, i.e. ABOUT women, but we also hear from women, i.e. THROUGH women. This enforces the male principle as the norm, the male voice as the relevant, important one. And if worse comes to worst, stereotypes re enforced about what women and men can and can not Continue Reading →
28. June 2018
by SchspIN
Comments Off on Germany’s Top Cop Drama TATORT – #2v6pN
The women directors lobby group Pro Quote Regie – who have since then expanded and are now Pro Quote Film, covering some 10 departments – had been campaigning for more films directed by women in German film and televison. Just under three years ago the Degeto Film GmbH (the company who is responsible for a large number of films of public tv channel ARD) commited to a 20 % share of female directors in their productions. Degeto boss Christine Strobl is quoted as saying that 20 % are a resonable target with which she wanted to ensure a change of consciousness within the industry, among producers and commissioners (according to Manfred Hanfeld: Zwanzig Prozent Regisseurinnen FAZ 8.7.15).
Unfortunately it is not so easy to get hold of a list of all Degeto‘s productions in a year, so instead I looked into Germany‘s top cop drama TATORT / CRIME SCENE once again, a weekly 90 min. film broadcast by ARD on Sunday nights, with roughly 35 news films every year. Because surprisingly enough the TATORTE (that‘s the plural) have nearly reached a 20 % share of female directors in the first half of 2018 – after years of single-figures in that category.
By the way, I have a different proposal for a commitment which I will present at the end of today’s text (#2v6pN). But first, let’s have a look at the TATORTE.
Indeed, 4 of the so far 21 TATORTE 2018, that‘s 19 %, were directed by women. At the same time the share of women for a number of other departments have decreased alarmingly. No woman provided the images or the sound, and only 7 % of the stories, the dialogues were written by women (the next image on the left will show this).
So is there a connection to the increase of female directing? This theory was mentioned by several female DoP who said they had been told “well, we do have Continue Reading →
4. June 2018
by SchspIN
Comments Off on Let’s Talk about the Inclusion Rider
“I have two words to leave with you tonight, ladies and gentlemen: Inclusion Rider.”
Frances McDormand, US-American Actress, Academy Awards March 2018
For the last months, the term inclusion rider has been popping up in newspapers and social media In many countries across the globe, including Germany. At the same time I got the impression that it is not always quite clear what this is all about, and that maybe applying it in the German film industry may not be that easy. So today I am publishing a more extensive article on the topic.
All highlighting within original quotes was done by me.
Within one night (the term) inclusion rider came known to a bigger audience was made known to a bigger audience. It happened in March 2018 at the Academy Awards. Frances McDormand was voted Best Actress for her leading role in THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI. At the end of her acceptance speech she asked all female nominees in the room to get up and concluded:
“we all have stories to tell and projects we need financed. Don’t talk to us about it at the parties tonight. Invite us into your office in a couple of days, or you can come to ours, whichever suits you best, and we’ll tell you all about them. I have two words to leave with you tonight, ladies and gentlemen: Inclusion Rider.”
What exactly is the inclusion rider and what can it achieve? McDormand said after the ceremony, that an inclusion rider allows actors to demand that the cast and crew consist of a certain percentage of people who represent diversity — i.e. women, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, and people of color. (tvguide, 5.3.) and that everybody who does a negotiation on a film — which means you can ask for or demand at least 50 percent diversity in not only the casting but the crew. (Hollywoodreporter 4.3.)
Diversity is yet another term that everybody understands and uses differently – is diversity another word for reality, i.e. the mix of people in our societies? Then the target should be 100 %. Or is diversity another word for underrepresented minorities? Then it would mean that white, heterosexual women without disabilities are not part of it, unless they are old? This is a topic for another day.
The inclusion rider – I am proposing Diversitätsklausel as the German translation – has been defined in many ways in the night [Weiterlesen – Read On]
18. May 2018
by SchspIN
Comments Off on Cannes and Eurovision: Saturday Night’s Alright for Change
Last saturday, in France in Portugal:
At Cannes Film Festival women in film emphasized the call for change for the industry and society by staging a symbolic piece of action and issuing a statement on the red carpeted stairs leading up to the festival palais.
And in Lisbon 25-year-old Israeli musician Netta won the Eurovision Song Contest with her electro pop dance song TOY, which celebrates individualism and is a clear women‘s power message in times of #metoo.
82 women stood on those Cannes steps – 82, since that is the number of female directors whose films have been invited to the competition of the Festival de Cannes since 1946. 82, as opposed to 1,688 male directors.
Cate Blanchett, Australian actress, founding member of TimesUp and president of this year‘s competition jury led the 82 women, and together with French director Agnès Varda, who received an honorary golden palm for her oeuvre, read out this declaration:
Women are not a minority in the world, yet the current state of our industry says otherwise. As women, we all face our own unique challenges, but we stand together on these steps today as a symbol of our determination and our commitment to progress. We are writers, we are producers, we are directors, actresses, cinematographers, talent agents, editors, distributors, sales agents and all of us are involved in the cinematic arts.
And we stand in solidarity with women of all industries.
We expect our institutions to actively provide parity and transparency in their executive bodies and provide safe environments in which to work.
We expect our governments to make sure that the laws of equal pay for equal work are upheld.
We demand that our workplaces are diverse and equitable so they can best reflect the world in which we actually live. A world that allows all of us in front and behind the camera, all of us to thrive shoulder to shoulder with our male colleagues.
And we acknowlege all of the women and men around the world who are standing for change.
The stairs of our industry must be accessible to all. Let’s climb. Continue Reading →
8. April 2018
by SchspIN
Comments Off on Superheroine against Violence – #metoo
This image shows 9 white men, Horst Seehofer (CSU), the new Minister of the Interior, Building and Community (“Heimat”) and his 8 male state secretaries. The whiteness of them all is doubly anachronistic, as one of the areas of this ministry is “Heimat” – homeland / homecountry, and roughly 20 % of the German population belong to ethnic minorities.
Today’s text is about the overwhelmingly male dominated German acting union BFFS. I haven’t translated it so far, sorry.
I am also writing about the intiative, started by the BFFS in the aftermath of #metoo and the Weinstein revelations, to install a central complaints point for the German film industry for those affected by sexual abuse and violence, and by discrimination for a number of other diverse reasons. Conceptual meetings were held among delegates from various film unions and organizations. The BFFS was represented by two men.
Before this new complaint point is installed I hope that those planning it seek the advice of competent partners, and I would like to bring forward the bff Frauen gegen Gewalt (Women against Violence), an association of rape crisis centres and women’s counselling centres in Germany. This is their multilingual website. The bff offers support, information and further training.
It incorporates more than 160 rape crisis centres and women’s counselling centres all over Germany, constituting the majority of mobile counselling and support facilities for female victims of violence. These centres (Frauennotrufe and Frauenberatungsstellen) have existed in Germany for more than 30 years.
The bff denounces violence against women and girls through public relations and actions. As an umbrella organisation, they exert significant influence on political decisions.
The bff conducts seminars and conferences, disseminates expertise from practice and research and develops information material on the issue of violence against women. (The Federal Association)
Here’s their latest campaign video “Superheroine against Violence”, inclusive and accessible, which they published on Nov. 27, the International Day against Violence against Women. Is available in five languages (German, German Sign Language, English, Turkish and Arabic) – please share it!:
16. January 2018
by SchspIN
Comments Off on Change is coming
Today’s text is about music, change, and the 5th anniversary of this blog.
Several years ago I discovered the alternative rockband thenewno2 and immediately loved the music – and the name! (which has a different background from my associations, but never mind. It‘s a cool name). Behind thenewno2 are Dhani Harrison and Paul Hicks, who also collaborated in other musical projects, among other things they composed the music for the series GOOD GIRLS REVOLT and fils like BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (director Richard LaGravenese) and LEARNING TO DRIVE (director Isabel Coixet).
In 2010, along with Ben Harper and Joseph Arthur, Dhani Harrison foundet the Band A Fistful of Meri. And last October he published his first solo album: IN /// PARALLEL – a soloproject in its truest sense, he composed, mastered and produced all ten titles, some of them between 6 and 8 minutes long. He calls it grunge and bass, Rolling Stone describes it as psychedelic, and Harrison’s background as a film score composer can distinctly be felt (Dhani on IMDB).
You can like this music – I do! And the more differenciated reviews were entirely positive – but of course you can be annoyed instead and complain that it is not like you wanted it to be. This applies for a German radio journalist from Deutschlandfunk Kultur, whose name unfortunately I didn‘t catch, and who said something like: “Yes, the music is good, but something is missing, and that‘s the Beatles sound. Therefore I cannot give it a good rating“.
Dhani Harrison, born in 1978, is the son of Olivia Harrison, née Trinidad Arias, and George Harrison, a musician from Liverpool, who was a member of The Beatles for ten years, and after that had a 30-year solo career with a dozen LPs, among them the world‘s first triple album (ALL THINGS MUST PASS), he set up the first charity concert (Concert for Bangladesh, 1971) inspired by Ravi Shankar, he stepped in, when nobody trusted the new film project from Monty Python which had led to financing difficulties (THE LIFE OF BRIAN) and he had several number 1 hits.
The music Dhani Harrison – born 8 years after the Beatles broke up – grew up with was that of his father‘s solo career, and that of the many musicians who came to record their music in George Harrison‘s very own recording studio. Incidentially, Dhani – with a bachelor’s degree in industrial design and phyiscs to his credit – was cloned, as he is only the son of the ex-beatle (“the same voice!“ “the same eyes!“ „the same looks!“ and “he also plays the guitar!“) – and seems to have inherited nothing relevant whatsoever from his mother.
Why am I telling all this? Because narrow-minded expectations and views, when loudly voiced, are always unpleasant and form a hinderance to development and new things. This goes for music as well as the film industry (and other areas of society as well of course): it‘s always done this way, let‘s play it safe, it‘s just that men are so much better at directing or with a camera, the audience simply likes nothing better than watching crime drama, women have to be young and beautiful, the tv ratings demonstrate what‘s good or doesn‘t work…
Speaking of television, ironically it is this television, namely the two major public broadcasting corporations ARD and ZDF, who were awarded the Honorary Inspiration Award by the board of the German acting union BFFS at last year’s DSP German Acting Awards.
With the „Honorary Inspiration Award“, the Federal Association for Acting BFFS annually recognizes a personality or institution, who through their achievements have enabled and promoted the art of acting in a special way. (German source)
The 2017 award did not honour promising attempts, it was not bestowed upon commissioning editors or individuals, it did not ackknowledge courageous tv formats, no, the public broadcasters were recognized in their entirety. How das that make actresses feel who don‘t get cast, because they don‘t fit into the programme? Writers, whose innovative stories are rejected or fundamentally changed? How do commissioning editors at ARD and ZDF feel, who fight for change and who manage to smuggle little gems into the programme? It doesn‘t matter, because the whole house is an inspiration. Or rather, both houses. And the speech of honour was given by Sigmar Gabriel, a politician from the SPD social democrats – three days before the last general election – surely because he can empathize so well with actresses and actors and knows what is inspirational for them.
Well, some things are. For one, they finally changed the name of the DSP, formally „the award with the awkward name“, something I had proposed for the very start, but sometimes it takes a while. By the way In 2016 the DSP Inspiration Award went to Isabel Coixet, who is a great director and very popular among acters and actresses who have worked with her (and would like to!).
DSP 2016: BRS and Isabel Coixet. ©: BFFS/Foto:Schroewig
Unfortunately, when Isabel Coixet received the award, again a highly prominent personality was chosen for the award speech, Dieter Kosslick, and he spoke of himself at least as much as he did about her. I remember asking myself, why in all those years he has been the director of the Berlinale Berlin International Film Festival, he never took English classes to work on his lexis, grammar and pronounciation. But maybe there just never was time. Or there were no English language teachers in Berlin. But that is a topic for another day.
I didn‘t go to the awards last year, but in the years before I noticed that most awards in the DSP categories were presented by celebrities and given to celebrities. The lesser known actors and especially actresses were the friendly helpers of the night, taking the guests coats, leading them to their seats, checking the invitations. But it does not always have to stay that way, at the gala of Awards from acters for acters (to use the gender-neutral term).
It does not have to stay the way it was or is. Things will change. The German television programme will change. The rule of the tv ratings will be over at some point, and then some intelligent people will make sure, that the quality and the value of a tv broadcast is not determined by the number of people who watched it. And the number of followers on instagram won‘t determine which acter is being cast for a role. One day, more women will be enabled to make films. Great films. One day, the BFFS will be turned into a democratic organization. One day the male domination within the film industry will complete its final round.
Change is coming.
And no one can stop it, certainly not those who proclaim the day before yesterday to bei the future. At the same time, change needs support. Heforshe, metoo, timesup, Era5050, Pro Quote – the sign of the times are there. Change is coming.
And I am happy to help bring this change about, with SchspIN and NEROPA.
t’s not like it used to be
It’s not like it used to be
It’s not like it used to be
It’s not like it used to be
(Dhani Harrison: All About Waiting)
Five years ago today, on Jan 16, 2013, I published my first blog post (And Action!) and on Jan 20, 2016 I first introduced the concept of NEROPA (A Casting Tool Called NEROPA). Two Anniversaries. On January 20, 2016, at the panel discussion “Who plays the part in German television?“, organized by Women in Film and Television Germany at the Grüne Salon in Berlin (audio), I spoke about my analyses for the first time in public. And a public discussion about role gender imbalance, casting PRAXIS, stereotypes and structures began, in the course of which we find NEROPA, the study on Audiovisual Diversity by the University of Rostock, and some exciting developments we are about to witness.
Another anniversary will be installed the day after tomorrow, because then Equity UK are running a symposium on NEROPA at the BFI, where I will present my method in greater detail (#equityneropa).
But first things first, let‘s celebrate 5 years of SchspIN – with a bit of music from Dhani Harrison of course.
I‘d like to say thank you to all my readers over the past years, to all who gave me positive or critical feedback, who helped me gather infomation and data, who shared my articles in their blogs or other platforms. And I also want to say thank you for the many congratulations I have received, some in private, some in public.
Here‘s to the next 5 years of SchspIN!
“FILMLÖWIN / FILM LIONESS would like to warmly congratulate SchspIN on the occasion of her fifth birthday and say thank you from the bottom of her heart for the industrious, well researched and informative roars! Keep it up – here‘s to our continuous good collaboration!“
Film Lioness – the feminist film magazine
Dear Belinde, Brigitte Macron (in this case the one from the show “Kroymann“) wants to congratulate you on the 5th birthday of your blog and the 2nd of the intelligent and appropiately combative casting tool NEROPA! And she hopes for more ideas like it, nicely radical and at the same time practical. Bon anniversaire! Gros bisoux!
As representative: Maren (Brigitte had to go to a hyaluron treatment)
Maren Kroymann: website and comedy show (with Brigitte Macron)
Dear Belinde Ruth, congratulations! We only met not so long ago at the #EPD17 (equal pay day), but I don‘t want to miss the „SchspIN – actress‘s thoughts“ and your engagement for NEROPA. NEROPA – a casting tool for more role diversity, for more equality, diversity and less “culture of legs astride“. You, along with your blog, have been an insider tip for a long time. I hope this will change. Congratulations on that, looking forward to the next exciting and ENLIGHTENING blog posts.
With best wishes, Yvonne de Andrés.
Yvonne interviewing Belinde for Aviva-Berlin Magazine
20. December 2017
by SchspIN
Comments Off on Camera: Through their Eyes
When people speak of the Female Gaze they very often refer to women directors. I find this a bit strange as my first association with gaze would be the camera. This often neglected team position – director of photography – should be regarded as part of a creative triumvirate, alongside the director and writer/s. More so than the producers. But strangely enough, often only the director, writer and producer will be included. There is a type of film we casually call “Bügelfilme” in German (and I don‘t know the English expression for that. It‘s films that don‘t need to be seen in order to be understood, so you can do your ironing while you listen to the dialogue and the music, which will tell you everything that you need to know. If there is an English expression for these types of films, please tell me in the comments section, tnx.). So aside from these Bügelfilme, the vast majority of films will be characterized by their visual side and thus by the camera department quite considerably. Who is with me on this? The ARD (German public broadcaster / channel one)! On their TATORT pages (CRIME SCENE, the German top cop drama, 90 min. films on most Sunday nights) they name the TRIUMVIRAT and the composer – in the same ordcer as in the end titles of a film: music / composer, DoP, writer, director. The German TV awards Grimme-Preis list the author, director, DoP and head of sound for the nominated films.
We see this phenomenon internationally as well. There are these really remarkable, profound statistics from the British Film Institue BFI for roughly 200 UK films per [Weiterlesen – Read On]