Edinburgh Napier University

Edinburgh Napier is supporting a project that has united filmmakers and communities within the Pacific to highlight gender inequality and gender-based violence.  
 
Film4Gender is a UK Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project that has supported community-based filmmakers across the Pacific to produce films that promote gender equality and highlight local community-led responses to gender-based violence.  
 
Produced during the global Covid-19 pandemic, the series of films also document the impact of local restrictions on people’s lives, and especially women. The collection of seven short films screening in 2020 spans six Pacific countries – Papua New Guinea, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Fiji and Samoa. 
 
Through Dr Kirsten MacLeod, programme leader of Edinburgh Napier’s BA(Hons) Television programme, the Film4Gender project has been made possible through the establishment of the Pacific Community Filmmaking Consortium.  
 
Alongside Edinburgh Napier, the consortium includes representatives from St Andrews University, University of the South Pacific, Goroka University PNG and the National University of Samoa.  
 
The consortium represents an emerging body of Pacific-made participatory films and filmmakers who have come together to develop and share practice as filmmakers and to support the communities with whom they collaborate. 
 
Dr Kirsten MacLeod said: “It has been an honour and really exciting to be involved in the Pacific Community Filmmaking Consortium as the executive producer on the Film4Gender project.  This project showcases fantastic Pacific filmmakers whose work is making a real difference in tackling gender-based violence and gender inequality. Working across 2020 we have also been able to document the impact of Covid-19 and especially how this has been experienced by women.  
 
“The project aims to support local communities in responding to gender inequality and also to grab the attention of governments, NGOs, funders and policy makers to recognise the value of community filmmaking as a valuable and effective way of effecting social change.” 
 
The films will receive their first showings online this week to coincide with the United Nations’ 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.  
 
The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an annual international campaign that kicks off on 25 November and runs until 10 December. It was started by activists at the inaugural Women’s Global Leadership Institute in 1991 and continues to be coordinated each year by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership. It is used as an organizing strategy by individuals and organizations around the world to call for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls. 
 
More details on the Film4Gender project can be found here
More details on the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence can be found here