VENICE 2021: Miu Miu Women’s Tales

VENICE

Every year, one of the main joys of attending the Venice Film Festival is to take part in the Miu Miu Women’s Tales meetings inside the Hotel Excelsior. For the past 11 years, the fashion company Miu Miu has been financing two short films a year, directed by women, giving them a simple brief that only specifies what type of new clothing they will be using in their stories. This challenge has been accepted by both new and acclaimed filmmakers: Agnes Varda, Lucrecia Martel, Miranda July, Ava DuVernay, Haifaa al-Mansour, Hailey Gates, Celia Rowlson-Hall, and Dakota Fanning – just to name a few.

Those two films are shown as a special event the first week of the festival and, afterwards, editor Penny Martin hosts three separate panels where she talks with the two directors and other female guests present at the festival. It is the only side of the festival that is 100% female-centric, a strong statement that especially rang true this year, where only four female directors were selected in the Official Competition, a step down from the 2020 edition.

The first meeting saw filmmakers Isabel Sandoval and Kaouther Ben Hania talk about their two Miu Miu shorts: Shangri-La and I and the Stupid Boy. It is fascinating to hear these two independent filmmakers discuss the creative process behind developing a short after multiple feature-length films under their belt, collaborating with Miu Miu and trying to bring these stories to life during the pandemic. 

One constant element that is brought up every year is just how hard it is for women filmmakers to get their movies financed; Ben Hania had to access funds from six countries and well over thirty production companies to get her film financed, while Sandoval decided to have a budget lower than $500k to have more control of the production. 

After these two talented filmmakers finished reiterating the importance of representation in cinema, with Sandoval especially talking about the lack of pandering to cisgender audiences when making her feature Lingua Franca, the meeting ended in a rapturous applause. In the afternoon, Ciara Bravo and Patricia Allison took the stage. Both are having a strong 2021, with Bravo starring in her first major film role – the Russo brothers’ Cherry – and Allison coming back on Netflix with the third season of Sex Education. 

The highlight of listening to these two rising stars was how much the industry has changed to give voice and support to women. The name Ita O’Brien was mentioned many times, with her role as intimacy coordinator having helped many actors in feeling safe and secure when planning and filming sensual sequences for film and television. This type of support should not be optional but mandatory on every production, for caring about the mental well-being of the performers – especially those who are very young – is paramount.

The third and final conversation was with KiKi Layne and Sarah Gadon, who is also part of this year’s jury. The topics discussed range from how Layne has been bringing to life beautiful and strong black characters in films like The Old Guard and If Beale Street Could Talk – very different from the “loud and unintelligent black characters” she saw on TV growing up – to Gadon currently developing a TV show about the dark history of Canada against its indigenous citizens.

While growth has definitely happened in the industry as far as parity and interest in female voices in front and behind the camera, Gadon cannot deny that this change has brought “the commodification of the female voice or the tokenization of a POC person.” Even the controversial topic of quotas was tackled head-on, recognising how important they are in making sure women and other minorities are present in various forms in the film industry, but also being aware that no one wants to be seen as a box that needs to be checked off.

Every time, those Miu Miu Women’s Tales discussions end up being truly enlightening, raw, honest, and refreshing. Major congrats to both Miu Miu and the Giornate Degli Autori for keeping this lovely initiative active for over a decade, to Penny Martin for being a gracious and compelling host, and to all the guests who keep doing their best to make the film industry a better place for women, POC, and LGBTQ+ members.