Our Work
Women continue to struggle for representation across the film industry globally. One social barrier particularly affects women, although it applies to everyone: Family vs. Film.
At Raising Films we believe conversations make change happen, and we want things to change. We are losing too much talent to the choice many filmmakers are forced to make, between being a parent and making films. We don’t believe this choice is necessary, but rather a product of social and economic conditions, and we want to start a conversation about how change can be made for filmmakers who want to have a family and continue their careers.
This is about development, sustainability and diversity. Raising Films aims to address one of the issues that prevents many female filmmakers from pursuing their careers, to enable filmmakers with families to keep working and feel supported during demanding times in their personal lives, and to challenge at a structural level the demands the film industry makes of all of us.
Raising Films aims to provide information, education and solutions and our work focuses on:
- Enabling financial assistance for child and elder care.
- Encouraging industry-wide adoption of flexible working and access to child and/or elder care.
- Formalising a way to combat discrimination.
- Normalising conversations around caring commitments with employers.
We put these ambitions into action by working with industry partners and the film and television community and lobby to to ensure these and other solutions are enacted.
Samar Ziadat on the need for safe community spaces
In this final provocation of the series Samar Ziadat explores the vital need for safe community spaces within the context of the current political climate. Samar is a co-founder of Dardishi, and the project’s [...]
Visual response to Raising Our Futures
Raising Films commissioned Alex J Gardner, an artist and designer, to illustrate the responses to our Raising Our Futures initiative. Alex's gorgeous, powerful and we hope inspiring, linocut response is [...]
Robert Softley Gale on adaptability
For our fourth provocation Robert Softley Gale, Artistic Director, Birds of Paradise Theatre Company shares his thoughts on adaptability across working life and parenting life. Over to Robert... A few weeks ago my twin boys [...]
Sade Banks on allowing space and time for self-care as a working mother
For our third provocation Sade Banks, founder and CEO of Sour Lemons (a charity that exists to disrupt decision making tables in the creative and cultural sectors), takes some time to talk about leaving [...]
ScreenSkills Making It Possible 2020 in association with Raising Films
"It is still the single best professional development training and networking I’ve ever done. It completely changed my perception of how to combine my career and parenting; and, most importantly for me at the [...]
Naomi Mwasambili on the future of care and the #BlackLivesMatter movement
For the second in our series of provocations we teamed up with Dr Erinma Ochu, Curator, Sheffield Doc/Fest Exchange and social entrepreneur Naomi Mwasambili of Chanua and NEUROLOVE. Naomi Mwasambili, through NEUROLOVE, is working [...]
Research, Reports, Recommendations
We Need To Talk About Caring
A survey into caring within the screen industries.
Raising Our Game
Implementing a framework of accountability for parents and carers.
Making It Possible
The first nationwide look into the impact of caring on career development across the industry.
Our MAKING IT POSSIBLE Research & Findings
Respondents were 78% female and 21% male, and the survey observed that women tended to carry more of the burden as carers.
79% of parents and carers told us that their caring labour had a negative impact on their work in the UK film and television industries.
63% of respondents work freelance or are self-employed, and financial uncertainty is a major concern.