Collectif
50/50

For the past few months we have been collectively wondering how to turn a moment into a movement.

While French cinema wasn’t shaken by the Weinstein shock wave, it is essential that we move to take concrete action reaching beyond the issue of sexual abuse alone.

We believe that the distribution of power needs to be questioned.

We believe that equality restores the balance of power.

We believe that diversity deeply changes representations.

We believe that the opportunity to work in an egalitarian and inclusive environment must be seized because we are certain that the equal sharing of power will promote profound creative renewal.

How to achieve this?

Actions

1

Challenge our cultural institutions

With the aim of equal directorial boards by 2020.
This concerns our public institutions, but also private entities, professional unions, festivals, juries and film schools. We expect the decision makers at the head of these entities to cultivate awareness with the intent of encouraging equality, inclusion and younger generations. The true diversity of our country needs to be duly represented.

2

Create an Observatory to monitor equality in our industry

This tool will produce numbers and analyze statistics in French film in order to pro- mote collective awareness and quantify evolution.
It will produce new statistics with the ambition of covering the full spectrum of our field: salary disparity between male and female crew members, between actors and actresses, the budget differences between films by male and female directors and the lack of diversity throughout the industry.

We are committed to using the power of numbers to raise awareness, increase the visibility of these issues and fuel the workshops that we will be leading to produce ideas, solutions, and opportunities.

About our communication
The 50/50 Collective works towards parity, equality and diversity in film and audiovisual industries, with the belief that opening up the field of power will enable a profound renewal of creation. It functions as an action tank, a lobby which acts in the public space and on institutions through the production of thought and quantified data. We also devote our energy to the elaboration of concrete measures and tools to achieve these goals.
The environment in which we operate has not yet integrated the parameter changes that we are targeting, sources of anger are therefore frequent. Nevertheless, we feel that it is necessary to dispassionate the debates in order to improve the way we think about them, to put our collective intelligence and our expertise at the service of a better distribution of power, conceived as the ultimate lever to counter inequalities.
For this reason, we have chosen to refrain ourselves from commenting on current events and from reacting hastily to the many and at times intolerable statements issued by personalities.
These indignations continue to irrigate our work, but we limit our communication and public speech to actions intended to impact the reform of what constitutes a system, and as a relay to inspiring approaches and structuring actions.

The signatories

Together we are committed to leading a thorough discussion and a long struggle for equality and inclusion in our industry. We call on all those who wish to unite around this empowering movement to join us.

Who are we