Protected: Women at Sundance New 2023

Groundbreaking Research

Exploring the Barriers and Opportunities for Independent Women Filmmakers

Together with Women In Film Los Angeles, we commissioned groundbreaking research in 2013, 2014, and 2015 with Dr. Stacy Smith and her team at USC’s Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism. Before this project, an analysis of gender composition among content creators from the independent-film sector had never been undertaken. The study examines 11 years of the Sundance Film Festival and Sundance Institute labs, analyzing more than 30,000 points of data and dozens of deep-dive qualitative interviews.

We believe that by learning more about how women are faring in the independent-film world, and by opening our own data at Sundance Institute for this study, we gain powerful insights into ways to positively effect progress. Our research has led to a groundswell of media coverage about gender equality in entertainment and was cited in the ACLU and EEOC investigations on gender discrimination in Hollywood.

Just below are thumbnail sketches of the research—but this is only the beginning of what we’ve learned. Click here to read the studies in full.

Research Phase 1

From 2002 to 2013, 17.1% of directors of U.S. narrative films at the Sundance Film Festival were female; from 2002 to 2012, 29.4% of producers of U.S. Narrative films were female. Working in a male-dominated industry, women must navigate gendered financial barriers and exclusionary hiring practices as they pursue filmmaking. These obstacles result in only 4.2% of all directors being female across the one hundred top films from 2002 to 2013.

Click here to read the full Research Phases I and II.

Research Phase 2

Female-directed films brought to Sundance Institute labs were just as likely to be finished as male-directed films. Further, 81.3% of all finished films went on to play at one of the top 10 festivals worldwide with no differences by gender. With the support that comes through the Sundance Institute labs and the ensuing continuum of Institute support, female directors were just as likely as their male counterparts to succeed. In other words, support matters. When asked about the qualities of a successful narrative director, industry experts named twice as many traditionally masculine characteristics as feminine. This tendency to “think director, think male” is a form of occupational stereotyping that may bias who is considered for open directing assignments.

Click here to read the full Research Phases I and II.

Research Phase 3

From 2002 to 2014, 25.5% of U.S. Dramatic Competition directors at the Sundance Film Festival were women. Though the data tells us that women are interested in genres favored by Hollywood, female filmmakers encounter significant obstacles as they attempt to move from independent to more commercial filmmaking, and they face deep-rooted presumptions from the film industry about their creative qualifications, sensibilities, tendencies, and ambitions. A view of a gendered marketplace limits the perception of women’s career potential. Industry leaders may hold an implicit association between females and less commercial stories. Following this, buyers and sellers may perceive that women lack the ambition or competence to direct the larger, commercial properties that open doors or create later opportunities, setting up an impenetrable obstacle for many female directors.

Click here to read the full Research Phase III.

Race and Gender Analysis of Sundance Submissions and Acceptances
In 2019, we deepened and expanded our work with Dr. Stacy L. Smith at USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative by conducting an in-depth analysis of inclusion metrics across all artist programs at the Institute and the Sundance Film Festival over the past three years (submissions and acceptances). The analysis revealed that 28% of feature-length and episodic projects submitted to the 2017 and 2018 Sundance Film Festivals had at least one woman director, as did 34.1% of shorts. Of feature films and episodic content accepted in 2017 and 2018, 35% had a woman director, as did 51.4% of short films! Examining submissions and acceptances reveals how interested women and people of color are in debuting their independent work at the Festival. See here for the full study.

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