Australian production industry comes together for indie short film celebrating gender inclusivity
An independent short film by a majority-female crew is turning gender stereotyping on its head, celebrating the inclusive message of #BesideNotBehind.
Written, shot, edited and released all within two weeks in time for International Women’s Day today, Beside Not Behind plays on the old saying that “Behind every great man is a great woman” and promotes the message that support can, and should, go both ways. It follows three women in everyday situations where gender bias, presumption and misconception exist in sometimes the most subtle ways.
The film is also hosted on the Beside Not Behind Facebook page.
Its portrayal of women excelling in fields perceived to be male-dominated takes its cue from this year’s IWD theme of #PressforProgress – a strong call to motivate and unite friends, colleagues and whole communities to think, act and be gender inclusive.
Olivia Cheung (far left), integrated producer at The Royals, and Cassie De Colling (left), award-winning director with The Otto Empire, came together after hearing too many stories about discrimination and gender bias in the film and advertising workplace. They wrote the script over a weekend with three weeks lead-time in order to make the film in time for International Women’s Day.
In the Australian film industry, women make up 32% of producers and just 16% of directors and 23% of writers.
Says Cheung: “It was an ambitious goal to begin with; typically a social campaign of this size would be planned for at least six months, and we managed to get this together from concept to delivery in three weeks, with the support of so many people willing to donate their time and skills.
“It just goes to show how many people connected with the #BesideNotBehind message – to make things truly equal and not about gender, it’s about supporting each other. There’s a lot of mixed feelings around the gender equality and feminist movement that can divide men and women, and that’s why we felt it was important to share a message that it’s about supporting each other, which I think is the unique thing about our campaign.”
Says De Colling: “We’ve made a lot of progress in removing gender bias, differences in pay gap, creating more opportunities for women and men to stand shoulder to shoulder. I was keen to make a piece people would watch and feel like they could acknowledge the subtle differences of the current gender divide but more so be a part of the message of acknowledging and supporting each other.
“The thing that made this job so magic for me was looking around on set and seeing such a passionate crew of women and men championing the message #BesideNotBehind – it was incredibly fulfilling. Everyone involved has worked around the clock to create the best film possible given the resources and time. #BesideNotBehind gave us all an opportunity to expand our networks, learn from each other and have a truly iconic piece to show at the end.”
Written by Cassie De Colling & Olivia Cheung
Directed by Cassie De Colling
Produced by Olivia Cheung
Talent
THE CREATOR
Mum: Rebecca Bastiaensz
Dad: Carey Carter
Daughter: Lara Darwish
THE UNDERDOG
Female AFL Player: Siobhan Barnes
Male AFL Player: Chad O’Brien
Physio: Madeleine French
THE LEADER
Politician: Sally Cheng
Male Secretary: Jamie Hansen
PROBLEM SOLVER
Girlfriend: Heather Burridge
Boyfriend: Andrew Eggleton
P-Plater: Dean Smyth
Crew
Director: Cassie De Colling
Producer: Olivia Cheung
Director of Photography: Ashley Barron
Production Managers: Olivia Cheung, Justine Pitcher, Ema Thornell
Associate Producer: Michelle Lloyd
Location Scout: Francesca D’Orazio and Michelle Jones
Location Manager (Melb Water): Peter Kissonergis
Casting Agency: 2 Divas
Casting & Production Coordinator: Jessica To
Casting Support: Lauren Bailey & Jenna Eriksen
1st Assistant Director: Astrid Dominguez
1st Assistant Camera (Day 1): Karina Davies
1st Assistant Camera (Day 2): Vanessa Cox
2nd Assistant Camera: Felicia Smith
Gaffer: Daniel Carr
Best Boy: Tommi Hacker
Electrics: Markus Hilgert
Production Designer: Oosah Kerr
Art Dept Assistant: Lauren Bailey
Art Dept Assistant: Kerri Mould
Wardrobe: Lenna Boord
MUA (Day 1): Eve Flight
MUA (Day 2): Kate Radford
Production Assistant: Kean Szczur
Production Assistant: Lauren Merritt
BTS Videographer: Amelia Mullooly
BTS Stills Photographer (Day 1): Jackson Gallagher
BTS Stills Photographer (Day 2): Dijana Risteska
Catering: Gail Bailey
PR & Marketing: Michelle Lloyd and Andrea Sophocleous
Post Production
Offline Editors: Grace Eyre and Max Miller
Online Editors: Wilfred Patriarca
Colour Grade: Edel Rafferty
Sound Design: Kathleen Burros
Music Composer: Ned Beckley
Voice Over: Natalie Bond
Recording Studio: Gusto Studio
Content Producer: Hossein Khodabandehloo
Support from:
The Royals
The Otto Empire
Panavision
2 Divas
The Editors
The Refinery
Studio Pancho
Equate Studios
Noise International
Australian Cinematographers Society
Melbourne Water
Film Victoria
Special thanks to:
Nic Godoy and Greg Lloyd, Steve O’Farrell, Andrew Siwka, Dave King, Jo Jo De Fina, Gareth Sweet, Stu
art Nightingale, Haley Kriksic, Claire Ambrosio, Andrea Sophocleous, Mika Tran Justine Pitcher, Kate Merrin, Alice Grant, Francesca D’Orazio, Ema Thornell, Amy Fong, Daniel Kim, Qiao Li, Hossein Khodabandehloo, Antuong Nguyen, Paul Bloomfield, Peter Kissonergis, Colin Simkins and Sean Calleja Ben Bickford, Leon the builder, Ben Tumney, Joe Loh, Warwick Field, Gail Bailey.
1 Comment
I am loving this sick in terms of the all female team, the production values, IWD etc but it just seems like a lost opportunity in the creative concept/writing. There are so many awesome female creative teams around – why not get their help to write you something that feels a little less government and a little more emotive? Maybe if you go again next year…