Pictured: Sarah Elizabeth Runcie

WOW International Film Festival a world of women's cinema

Now in it's eleventh year, the WOW Film Festival has been a staple of the Sydney cinema scene. Building it's diverse audience with a broad programme of features, shorts and documentaries, the festival has showcased some of the best emerging talent in Australia and established talent from overseas.

This year, newly appointed Festival Director, Jacqui North, spoke to Art News on what makes WOW unique in the national screen culture.

"There are many short film festivals in Australia but none that focuses on the talent of women in those three key creative roles of writer, director and producer. This year, the short film competition looks particularly impressive with more entries received this year than in any other year�and from all around the world." Having received short films from women filmmakers from as far afield industries such as Greece and Israel as well as from across the nation, Jacqui bemoans the exquisite torture of the state selectors in short-listing from such a varied cornucopia of works.

Few may realise that WOW is not only one of the most prestigious short film competitions in Australia but also has the richest single prize. With 'Best Australian Short' award alone, valued at over $30,000 in film, processing, equipment hire and so on, not mention three other award categories, WOW has attracted extraordinary works by such filmmakers as Cate Shortland, Erica Glynn, and Sally Riley.

This year, the festival will be instituting a new award called the Zonta Emerging Filmmaker Prize, aimed at up and coming women directors. It is a cool $3,000 in cash. It is sponsored by Zonta East Sydney, a women's non-profit organisation that has a long history in philanthropy for many women's issues. "I think is it really important that women's organisations work together and I am thrilled that Zonta have come on board as sponsor of a prize aimed at encouraging talented young women filmmakers. For us Zonta is a really exciting partnership."

There are many challenges to being Festival Director, but Jacqui, a filmmaker in her own right, is excited at the prospect of curating the work of new and established filmmakers alongside one another. "Seeing the creative synergies between the past and present work of filmmakers with a long history of association with the festival�is one of the pleasures of the festival experience."

Travelling to various festivals with her award winning documentary 'Chrissy' gave Jacqui the opportunity to see "what worked and what didn't" in the festival context. One aspect of WOW is putting together interesting filmmaker forums and discussion panels. This year will see a break with the traditional discussion points of the film craft to include the oft ignored art of TV - in particular, the cultural impact of Reality TV. "People bemoan the trend of Reality TV but I think it has actually created opportunities for good quality drama�and may be we won't to see 'Big Brother 3, 4 and 5' but 'The Secret Life of Us 2, 3, 4 and 5'."

No doubt, one of the main concerns Jacqui has about Reality TV is the ethics, or lack thereof, in its use of subjects. Indeed, when it comes to discussion about her own work as a documentary filmmaker, Jacqui refuses to use the word 'subject' at all. "What attracts me as a documentarian is people's lives in all their complexity, ordinary people that are actually extraordinary, decision-making times for people, moments of some kind of truth that they have in their lives,�having extreme levels of intimacy but being mindful of ethics and not being exploititative, having the actual people who participate in a documentary, I never call them subjects, because usually they are friends or people I know, [they] help to decide what the documentary is about, how it's filmed, what benefit it is going to be others - other than a voyeuristic look at someone's life."

For Jacqui, it is the ethical positioning of the documentary maker that can be the greatest strength of a film and often the greatest point of interest. But then, does that make the filmmaker the 'subject'? "It can�but you have to be willing to take the same risks that you are asking of the other people involved�"

WOW 2001 - a world of women's cinema, is presented by Women in Film and Television NSW. WIFT is a non-profit organisation founded in 1982 for the professional development of women in the fields of film, television and related screen arts.

The WOW International Film Festival opens Thursday, 18th October at the Chauvel Cinemas in the Paddington Town Hall. The WOW National Tour starts in November and travels to Alice Springs, Darwin, Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart and regional centres across New South Wales.

Sarah Runcie is a documentary producer and President of Women in Film and Television NSW.

W.I.F.T.