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.
RENT-A-BIFA!* (Because we’re broke)
Need a gorgeous award to look glam in your next social media post? Or want something extra-special for your office to impress Zoom callers? Or something in your loo to motivate you to JUST [...]
Raising Films Awarded BIFA’s Special Jury Prize
On Sunday 5 December, Raising Films attended the 24th British Independent Film Awards live at Old Billingsgate, where we were honoured to receive the Special Jury Prize. Awarded by the BIFA Main Jury, which [...]
How We Work Now – our report is live
This week, we publish our survey-based report How We Work Now, highlighting the urgent need for collective action addressing the issues faced by screen industries’ carers and parents, exacerbated by COVID-19 yet long pre-dating [...]
How We Work Now – a survey into the impact of COVID-19
Today (Monday 17 May, 2021) Raising Films launched its next major piece of research - HOW WE WORK NOW and asks anyone who works or has worked in the UK screen sector while being [...]
New festival awarded the Raising Films Ribbon
The North East International Film Festival (NEIFF) is the first festival to be awarded the Raising Films Ribbon. Lisa-Marie Tonelli founded the festival during the pandemic and NEIFF went online in 2020, with the [...]
Bringing a young carer’s story to the screen
The latest Raising Films Ribbon award goes to a short film production and its director Marnie Baxter for bringing a story about a young carer to the screen to help lift the isolation often [...]
Research, Reports, Recommendations
We Need To Talk About Caring
This piece of industry research from Raising Films (supported by Carers UK) surveyed people who are working, or who have worked, in the screen industries and who currently have caring responsibilities or have had caring responsibilities in the past.
Raising Our Game
Raising Our Game is our most wide-reaching piece of research – a report that examines and underlines the effects that the casualisation of labour combined with a lack of knowledge around rights and best practice, and often underlined by the assumption that working in the sector is a ‘privilege’, have had on our workforce.
Making It Possible survey
In 2015 Raising Films started a conversation about the challenges faced by parents and carers working in film and television. Now, we’re proud to present what we’ve learned with the results of our survey — the first nationwide look into the impact of caring on career development across the industry.
MAKING IT POSSIBLE survey – 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.