NYWIFT Blog

WIFT Around the World: Report from Berlinale (Part 1) – Adriana Shaw on Gender Parity

Whether you’re cast in a project that shoots abroad or you’re a producer on a quest for locations and tax credits, we’re all finding ourselves traversing the globe more than ever. Getting to know (and joining) our sister Women in Film & Television organizations around the country and the world can be a resource of unending value. From the quickest route to crewing-up with talented women to taking advantage of great events and programing, WIFTs around the world expand our networks and our horizons.


 

By Heidi Philipsen

Is true gender parity in film on the horizon? Women in Film & Television International (WIFTI) hopes so. NYWIFT member filmmaker/journalist/actress Heidi Philipsen attended the 2019 Berlinale International Film Festival, where 10% for 50/50 was introduced: a new European initiative offering rebates to gender-equal productions, led by post production house Chimney in partnership with WIFTI and Women in Film and Television Germany.

Philipsen met up with fellow NYWIFT member Adriana Shaw, founder of the streaming platform Herflix, while in Berlin, and they discussed what this initiative means for the future of the industry.

NYWIFT member Adriana Shaw (left) with German filmmaker Tara Brenninkmeyer

 

Heidi Philipsen: What brought you to the WIFTI/WIFT Germany Berlinale event?

Adriana Shaw: Helene Granqvist, the new President of WIFTI invited me to Berlin to meet the Presidents of the European chapters. My company, Herflix, has an agreement with WIFTI to provide a WIFTI channel on our online movie theater platform for member filmmakers. I took the opportunity to meet the chapter Presidents in person. Also, I could see that the 69th annual Berlin International Film Festival Agenda was a meaningful time to celebrate and advocate for more gender parity. Herflix became a sponsor of the event as well.

HP: Was it meaningful?

AS: Absolutely it was. The energy in that room was amazing. WIFTI President Helene Granqvist and the Post Production company Chimney representative introduced the 50/50/10 initiative signed (up to now by 20 Post Production houses world-wide) to offer productions with 50% woman’s crew a 10% deduction. Berlinale Festival Director [Dieter Kosslick] signed a 50/50 pledge for women filmmaker participation for 2020. Gale Ann Hurd shared her life successes and challenges as a female producer. But mostly, you could feel the palpable optimism in the room. And it was fun.

HP: How long have you been a NYWIFT member and what changes have you witnessed for women in film over the years?

AS: [I’ve been] a member of NYWIFT for 11 years, I believe, and before that a member of WIF LA. My good friend and mentor, Gloria Goldsmith, was a founding member of NYWIFT.

It is amazing to experience, as I have, the changes in the film markets and festivals over the last 30 years. Because of the advocacy and persistence of NYWIFT, the various Women in Film organizations, Geena Davis’ See Jane, Melissa Silverstein’s Women and Hollywood blog, and European Women’s Institutional organizations, gender parity is now front and center at the film festivals. The markets have also changed. When I began as a distributor, women’s stories were few and drama movies were only bought by government funded stations in Europe. Now female directors are promoted as an asset to a film, at least at the film markets, and we see the new digital players, Netflix, Amazon, etc. investing in her stories. What was also encouraging to see at the European Film Market at Berlinale was a significant increase of women in the ownership and leadership of the distribution companies and sales agencies.

HP: What do you hope for the future? 

AS: My company, Herflix, and several others have taken on the mission to promote women directors. Ask most people to name a woman director and they can only come up with Kathryn Bigelow. That needs to change if women are to get more opportunity for the bigger budgeted movies. 3% to 4% [women directors for big budget features] in the US is better but far from where the needle has to move. Europe is ahead of us. We also still lack the access to financial capital. I believe what we all hope for is equal opportunity for ourselves, our daughters, and our professional sisters.

HP: What has WIFT done for you and your career? What do you do that you feel will reflect upon women in film?

AS: I believe its important to have a community of women to connect and share goals and dreams. We all need a club – female or male, with the like-minded. I have made friendships and business associations that I value personally as well as professionally. My participation at NYWIFT has given me a platform to explore my business ideas and be part of a movement that’s important to me. It gives me and everyone else who participates a frame around their work. When women come to me for career advice, the first thing I say in join NYWIFT or your local WIF chapter.

Additional reporting by Katie Chambers.

PUBLISHED BY

Heidi Philipsen

Heidi Philipsen Heidi Elizabeth Philipsen-Meissner is a producer, writer, actress & director with 20 years of professional experience in international film, television and communications. Follow her on Twitter at @heidiphilipsen.

View all posts by Heidi Philipsen

2 Comments

Related Posts

Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Ellie Nix

Welcome to NYWIFT, Ellie Nix! Ellie Nix is a recent graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, where she played key roles in over 25 short films during the three years it took her to complete her degree. With a growing passion for assistant directing, Ellie brings a unique blend of efficiency and diplomacy to the fast-paced, ever-evolving world of media production. Ellie is most inspired when surrounded by people who challenge their perspective and a passion for those perspectives, and hopes to spend a lifetime pushing boundaries and helping bring bold visions to life. In our interview, Ellie discusses her experience as an assistant director, finding film community, and her short film Barreling Down!

READ MORE

Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Veanne Cao

Welcome to NYWIFT, Veanne Cao! We had the opportunity to interview Veanne Cao, a Vietnamese-Chinese writer and director whose work spans both the personal and the playful. Her short films—ranging from intimate dramas that explore memory, identity, and the Asian diaspora to comedies inspired by life’s absurdities—have screened at festivals around the world. Beyond the indie film space, she brings her storytelling sensibilities to the commercial and editorial world, producing content for global brands and publications. Veanne currently lives in Brooklyn with her partner and two shih-tzus.

READ MORE

Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Elizabeth “Liz” Bendelac

Welcome to NYWIFT, Elizabeth Bendelac! Liz is a locations professional. She’s managed, key assistant managed, scouted, and coordinated for film and television across New York and  New Jersey. Her credits? NBC's  New Amsterdam. Paramount’s Smile. Sony’s Goosebumps: The Vanishing for Disney+. Indie? She’s there too. Ponyboi, starring Dylan O’Brien and Victoria Pedretti. She’s everywhere you need her to be—quietly making it all happen. Recent work in the Tri-State area? The Home with Pete Davidson. Insidious 5. Manifest. Disenchanted. Resurrection. The Good Nurse. And a standout collaboration with Edward Burns on his sequel to The Brothers McMullen: The Family McMullen. Outside of production, Elizabeth dedicates her time to Surfers Healing, a nonprofit surf camp for children with autism. It’s a cause close to her heart, combining her love of the ocean with her commitment to community and empathy. Elizabeth is also an adjunct faculty member at the New Jersey Institute of Technology where she developed and teaches a course on location management. Elizabeth: She doesn’t just do locations. She produces. And producing, for her, has rules. Collaborate with directors who share her values. Strong roles for women of color. Fresh takes on stories you thought you knew. Films with the elegance of Merchant & Ivory but the punch to succeed in the real world. Films that leave a mark. To that end, she’s developing two scripts with award-winning playwright Montserrat Mendez. Exploring genre mash-ups. Shaking up narratives. Figuring out new ways to make audiences sit up, pay attention, maybe even gasp. Because whether it’s a location or a story, Elizabeth Bendelac knows how to map the journey. She knows the destination. And she will get you there.

READ MORE

Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Andrea Ocampo

Welcome to NYWIFT, Andrea Ocampo! Andrea is a first-generation Colombian filmmaker. She is drawn to the quiet forces that have shaped her: obsession, memory, and identity in flux. She is a proud artist who directs with a lens for the psychological and surreal, blending documentary realism with fiction laced in intimate mystery. Her latest short Blackout is a psychological thriller set in the NYC subway, and it premiered to a sold-out crowd on September 13th, 2025, at Imagine This Women’s Film Festival. She navigates global crises and inner landscapes with equal urgency. Her work has a raw, honest, and quietly haunted feel to it. Chances are you’ll feel it before you understand it. We spoke to Andrea in late Summer. She recounts her experience in the film industry, tracing her path from a passionate young filmmaker in her early childhood to the successful professional she has become.

READ MORE
JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
css.php