Screenings throughout June and July 2016 (see the full list below)
58% is an invitation to celebrate films by women, trans and non-binary filmmakers at Liverpool Small Cinema, where our programmers have joined forces to ensure that 58% of the cinema’s programming is dedicated to those filmmakers in a bid to platform diverse voices often overlooked due to lack of distribution, funding and accessibility outside of film festivals.
The motivation for 58% developed from the shocking realisation that in our first year of operations as a cinema only 18% of the films we screened were directed by women – we had collectively and systematically ignored half of the filmmaking population. Following further realisation that 58% of our Facebook followers were women, and the acknowledgement that our cinema team included trans and non-binary people, we felt that there was a social imbalance that we should address.
Specific campaigns like #DirectedByWomen, The Bechdel Test, (and the Bechdel Test Fest), Sweden’s A-Rate & Bath Film Festival’s #F-Rating are instrumental in highlighting the lack of positive representation in film. Inspired by these movements, we felt that it’s time to put this discourse into affirmative action. Starting with a trial season that aims to initiate dialogue about why we programme and who we programme for, the ultimate aim is to see policies like 58% be a permanent fixture of all cinemas. It is a testing ground to challenge our actions and our future programming decisions.
Through closing the gender gap within our programming, we hope to highlight the need for and benefit of fair and positive gender representation within our cinema, both socially and artistically, and challenge common ideas about the ability of marginalised filmmakers and the quality and content of their work.
58% PROGRAMME
JUNE 2016
Check the website for screening times and updates
Thur 2nd June – THE WATERMELON WOMAN Dir. Cheryl Dunye, 1996
Tue 7th June – PRINCE NIGHT! Prince Films & Videos
Wed 8th June – MARIA LASSNIG FILMS Collaboration with Tate Liverpool
Sun 12th June – DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL Dir. Marielle Heller, US, 2015
Tue 14th June – 52 TUESDAYS Dir. Sophie Hyde, Australia, 2013
Thur 16th June SOMETHING MUST BREAK Dir. Ester Martin Bergsmark, Sweden, 2014
Thur 23rd June – ONE SINGS, THE OTHER DOESN’T, Dir. Agnes Varda, France, 1977
JULY 2016
Wed 6th July – A GIRL AT MY DOOR Dir. July Jung, South Korea, 2014
Thur 7th July – PET SEMATARY. Dir. Mary Lambert, US, 1989
Thur 14th July – THE HOLY GIRL Dir. Lucrecia Martel, Argentina 2005
Sun 17th July – WADJDA Dir. Haifaa al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia, 2014
Sun 17th July – WILDWOOD NJ Dir. Ruth Leitman & Carol Cassidy, US,
Thur 28th July – DAISIES & Shorts. Dir. Vera Chytilova, Czech Republic, 1966
Sun 31st July – Merseyside Polonia TBC
The above programme includes screenings by The Small Cinema Team, Think Cinema, Elsewhere Cinema, Cheap Thrills, Cinema Nation, and Merseyside Polonia.
58% is founded on collaboration and we believe that better programming emerges from meaniningful partnership with likeminded friends, so we are always excited to hear from those who share and value our ethos to come and meet us, and help out with 58% – All positive contributions and ideas from filmmakers, programmers, writers, talkers and shakers are welcome, so do contact us >> 58pcnt@gmail.com
For further updates please follow #58percent