Women in View Announces Five in Focus: Indigenous Participants

On October 21,2020 at ImagineNATIVE, Women in View launched Five in Focus: Indigenous, its latest iteration of a successful professional development program that will promote and elevate Indigenous women-identifying and non-binary writers and directors in Canada. The Five in Focus: Indigenous participants will work with Indigenous women mentors – Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Inuit), Tracey Deer (Mohawk), Danis Goulet (Cree/Métis), Tina Keeper (Cree), and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (Blackfoot/Sami) – and other industryexperts on the development of their feature film or television series, with funding from the Indigenous Screen Office, Telefilm Canada, Canada Media Fund, Directors Guild of Canada, and TELUS. Five in Focus: Indigenous is tailored to meet the specific needs of each participant and will include industry activities, master classes, pitch training with international consultant Jan Miller, project packaging and more.
Women in View is proud to announce the participants for Five in Focus: Indigenous, the fourth iteration of their professional development program that promotes and elevates women-identifying writers and directors in Canada.
The Five in Focus: Indigenous selected participants are Lindsay McIntyre, Marylou Mintram, JJ Neepin, Eva Thomas, and Roxann Whitebean.
SEE: Five in Focus: Indigenous Team Press Release
Go to the Five in Focus page
MediaPLUS+: women + diversity= the big picture

In response to the conversation around the need to increase diversity in the Canadian media sector, Women in View launched their new initiative MediaPLUS+ at CMPA’s Prime Time in Ottawa on February 1, 2018. MediaPLUS+ is a resource booklet for actors, filmmakers, and industry professionals to help strengthen diversity in Canadian media.
DOWNLOAD MEDIAPLUS+ HERE:
MediaPLUS+ (English) & MediaPLUS+ (French)
“This is a brilliant resource that not only presents clear actions everyone can take to make ‘the big picture’ a reality, it also shows us the dynamism that results when women and diverse creators tell their stories. An essential read, a meaningful achievement.”
– Marguerite Pigott, Vice President, Outreach and Strategic Initiatives, CMPA
Shining a spotlight on five women-identifying creatives

Launched at the Whistler Film Festival in 2016, Five in Focus illustrates the depth and diversity of talent by shining a spotlight on five women writers and directors, each year. The program was designed to bring together producers and broadcasters to identify and promote Canadian women-identifying media creators. In 2018, we expanded this initiative to include women in the animation sector. The most recent iteration, Five in Focus: Indigenous was announced at ImagineNATIVE in October 2020.
Go to the Five in Focus page
Doubling the number of Canadian women directing scripted TV in two years. Join us.

2xMore was a three-year game changing initiative Launched at Prime Time in February 2016 by Women in View to support a sustainable shift towards gender equity in Canada’s media industries.
2X More designed to link shadowing to employment for women directors. In three iterations, 2xMore has supported 11 female directors on television sets.
This program is currently on hiatus.
The 2019 Women in View on Screen report: 50:50 by 20:20?

These reports provide a clear, consistent, year-over-year snapshot of how our media culture is – and is not – reflective of the capacity and vision of Canadian women as well as men. In the seven years since the launch of the first Women in View on Screen report in 2012, awareness and concern about gender inequity in our screen industries have grown considerably. Yet, as this year’s report illustrates, women- and particularly women of colour and Indigenous women- continue to be vastly under-represented as directors, screenwriters and cinematographers in Canadian feature film and television.
Illustrated with thought-provoking charts and graphics, these reports are a great resource for anyone interested in media diversity.
St. John's Summit on Women in Media
As part of its 25th anniversary celebrations, The St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival partnered with Women in View to bring together delegates from Canada’s major organizations representing women in screen media. Held in October 2014, the first national gathering of women’s media organizations from Newfoundland to Vancouver, the St. John’s Summit allowed delegates to share information and resources and to develop strategies and policies to address gender disparity in Canada’s screen industries.
With a series of seven recommendations, the final communique of the Summit called on government to
…explicitly promote the principle that the equitable employment of women and racialized minorities in audiovisual products benefits both genders and all cultural groups, and is vital to achieving genuine diversity.
Creative Leaders Program

The Creative Leaders Program was developed based on the recommendations from the 2010 SexMoneyMedia conference and on research showing that women are still under-represented from the top most decision-making and creative tiers of our national media industries.
The Creative Leaders Initiative 2012 advanced accomplished women from diverse backgrounds into the top decision making and content creation tiers in television, film, gaming and digital sectors. Exceptional media professionals partnered with top-tier industry leaders in a customized eight-month program designed to enhance their leadership skills, access global networks and build creative authority.
SexMoneyMedia Symposium

SexMoneyMedia celebrates and explores the status of women in screen based media.
An astoundingly diverse and powerful group of women—with high-ranking representatives from industry, finance, unions, the national government, technology, academia, the arts, and non-profits—joined for two days, with the primary goal of making sense of (and providing action items towards changing) the shockingly regressive rates of women’s participation in, and representation through, media.” — Alexandra Juhasz (Pitzer College, California)