Refinery29 hopes an upcoming program provides new opportunities for women in film. The digital publication has announced ShatterBox Anthology, a series whose individual episodes will all be led by female filmmakers.
As its title suggests, ShatterBox will be an anthology made up of 12 different short films across a diverse array of genres. The series will include four comedies, two dramas, four documentaries, and two animated projects, all of which will be led by female talent. Up first will be the directorial debut of actress Chloe Sevigny, who will adapt a short story called Kitty.
ShatterBox Anthology is a response to the insufficient representation of women within major motion pictures. “Of the 100 top grossing films in 2014, only 12% had a female protagonist,” reads a Refinery29 blog post. “Those 100 films featured 4,610 speaking characters — only 30% of them were female. And, if you consider every single film released in 2014, a mere 7% were directed by a woman. And remember, 50.8% of the U.S. population in 2014 was female. That’s not representation by any measure.”
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Refinery29 is not the only digital media company taking on the issue of poor female representation in film. Four days prior to the announcement of Shatterbox Anthology, Vimeo revealed a program called Share the Screen, which will promote female filmmakers and highlight their work.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the first ShatterBox Anthology short film will arrive in the spring.