NEW YORK, MARCH 3 – Jennifer Hudson is Kim Carter who could have been a murderer – it’s a real story – and now helps women out of marginalization and crime; Margherita Buy is a veterinarian with family problems who takes up the “unspoken” cry for help from a woman savagely beaten by her partner. Eva Longoria, is an accomplished professional woman who puts her job on hold to tale care of a niece whose mother – her sister – committed suicide; Anne Watanabe is a single mother struggling with two children; and then Cara Delavigne, Jacqueline Fernandez, Leonor Varela. “March is the month that shines the spotlight on women,” said Italian Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Maurizio Massari, introducing before an audience of over 1,000 thousand spectators in the UN General Assembly Hall Tell It Like a Woman, “a film by women on women and for all”.
The 67th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will open at UN Headquarters on March 6. May 8 is International Woman’s Day. The Italian Mission’s initiative coincides with Italy’s vice-chairmanship of the board of UN Women and shines a spotlight “on universal issues such as gender equality, women’s empowerment and the fight against violence against women”: all “issues at the heart of the 2030 agenda and of our common destiny,” Massari said.
Stories told on the big screen stick: “Movies can change the world, but they can also send wrong messages,” said the Undersecretary General for Global Communication Melissa Fleming: “We are used to a world where it’s the man’s gaze that directs the camera.” According to UN Women, only one in three speaking roles globally is played by women, women directors make up 21% of the total, and just 23% of films have women protagonists. That’s why Tell it Like a Woman, in which women directors tell women’s stories, is “a rare and important exception”.
The movie, produced with support from Iervolino and Lady Bacardi Entertainment, originated with filmmaker Chiara Tilesi of We Do it Together, a nonprofit production company founded in 2015 whose goal is to alter entrenched perceptions and stereotypes by offering women around the world concrete ways to express their talents and stories. In this case, seven female directors-Silvia Carobbio, Catherine Hardwicke, Taraj Henson, Mipo Oh, Lucia Puenzo, Leena Yadav, and Maria Sole Tognazzi-shot as many shorts in five languages performed by an international cast of women and featuring a song, Applause, composed by Diane Warren and performed by Sofia Carson, who are nominated for the 2023 Oscars on March 12: “The battle for women’s rights must not fall solely on the shoulders of women,” the two artists said in a message projected in the General Assembly chamber before the film’s screening.
In addition to Italy, the event was supported by the Permanent Missions of Argentina, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Chile, countries where the film’s directors and actresses came from or hosted its filming. Making the event possible, were private sponsors including Intesa Sanpaolo, ILBE, Ferrero and Poste Italiane. And the film’s journey has just begun: Tilesi has announced that it will be distributed in Italy, Brazil, India, and Saudi Arabia in 2023. (@OnuItalia)
