Film Streams launches See Change, an initiative aimed at gender parity in the film industry.

Words by Molly Ashford
Photos by Andrea Nuxoll
6 min. read

A film tells a story through a collection of ideas, words, moving images and still moments engineered by minds behind the cameras.

As cinema enters an era in which unique perspectives are valued in popular culture, the industry is inching towards making the necessary space for women and non-white directors to share their stories. While both groups have experienced a small but significant rise in representation for the first time in recent history, Hollywood films are certainly not a hallmark of diverse media.

In 2018, only 1.5 out of 10 directors of top-grossing films were women. The same is true for people of color, according to UCLA’s annual Hollywood Diversity report.

The data conveys a clear message: white men control an overwhelming amount of the narratives presented on the big screen.

Film Streams, Omaha’s only nonprofit cinema, has worked since its inception in 2007 to amplify diverse voices in film and increase accessibility to independent cinema in a city in which the film landscape was previously uniform. This devotion is expanding with a new initiative: See Change.

See Change, the organization’s latest program which intends on tackling gender-based inequities within the industry, was announced this week by Film Streams leadership. By the end of 2021, they aim to reach gender equality among directors of all programmed films. This encompasses educational series, new releases, and restorations alike.

“The numbers are shameful and consistent,” Film Streams said in their strategic planning document for 2019 to 2021. “From 2007 to 2018, just 4.3% of major films released in the United States were directed by women.”

Film Streams has been informally tracking the number of women-led films that they screen for over a decade. At the last count, 34% of their programmed films were directed by women. After digging into data about women in film, they decided that this is not enough.

The initiative is overseen by Diana Martinez, the newly appointed artistic director. She previously directed Film Streams’ multifaceted education efforts, which range from film analysis courses for adults to daytime screenings and guided discussions for K-12 students.

When speaking on the ways in which her transition from education director to artistic director has changed the scope of her work, Martinez notes that her mission has always been to give voice to groups that are underrepresented within both the independent and Hollywood film industries.

“I think there are ways in which Film Streams can really be a leader in thinking critically in the media that we are engaged with,” Martinez said. “Education efforts are, of course, about exposing kids and adults to really great film, but it is also ultimately about making people question the things that they see. I think there are ways that we can really use the work of women and people of color to think through inequities and injustices that exist in and outside of Hollywood.”

Martinez, a California native, is an academic with a passion for women in film. She heard about a job opportunity at Film Streams while at graduate school in Oregon and was encouraged by peers to apply. Four years later, she is helping the organization transition as Rachel Jacobson, the founder and executive director, moves on to new endeavors.

“What’s really interesting about Film Streams is that even though it is an organization that has been around for 13 years now, it is still really new in the way that there hasn’t ever been a major transition,” Martinez said.

While staying true to Jacobson’s mission, Martinez aims to integrate her passion for researching and highlighting the work of underrepresented voices in film through her new position and initiative with See Change.

“With the programming, my role is to make sure we are upholding this mission and this commitment that Rachel has had in bringing independent cinema to Omaha,” Martinez said. “But for me personally, it’s also about redefining what that means.”

Redefining the landscape of independent cinema is a multi-step process, and See Change is the first step. In many ways, the illusion of progress for underrepresented voices in both Hollywood and independent film industries is just that: an illusion. As noted by Martinez, there were more female directors in the silent era than there are today.

The new initiative comes at a poignant time for women in film, as 2019 is the only year on record that has shown an increase in the number of women directors. As conversations about equity within the film community continue to grow and data to support conclusions of imparities emerges, direct action becomes the only viable response.

“We like to think that we are more progressive, more woke, more attuned to issues of identity—but this has always been something that people have been invested in, within Hollywood especially,” Martinez said. “Really early on, people realized the power that movies have to shape our perceptions of people. So from really early on, women and People of Color have been fighting for representation.”

This fight for representation has now lasted for over a century, and See Change is Film Streams’ attempt to lead by example. Martinez notes that the theatre is “really one of the most recognized in the country,” and has the backing of an exceptionally philanthropic community.

These factors, strengthened by Film Streams’ designation as a non-profit, make it an ideal space to pilot what may otherwise be a risky financial endeavor.

“As hopeful and confident as I am that we will be successful in meeting this goal, I also know it will be really hard,” Martinez said. “So much of us being able to do this is because as a non-profit, we don’t really rely on making tons of money in order to pay our staff and make sure that we are providing great events to our community.”

Though viewership is not the driving factor in keeping the doors open, Film Streams is still anticipating a positive response from audiences.

“Our initiative can send a signal,” reads the last paragraph on the newly launched See Change website. “You have the power to amplify it with your presence and with your voice.”

Recent events—both the global outbreak of COVID-19 and enduring protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer—have put the cinema in a position to be a voice to underrepresented groups in a trying time. Martinez worries that other arthouses that wish to implement similar initiatives may not survive the pandemic.

“There are so many inequities within the industry that we can take on,” Martinez said, “but before everything happened, we were more nebulous on what that would be. Now after everything, I think it’s even more important that we take this on. There are so many other theatres that would like to do this work but may not survive this. So it becomes even more important to expand on what we are doing.”

While Martinez notes that some may not expect change to be spearheaded by a local cinema in Nebraska, she also believes that Omaha is a prime location for such an initiative.

“To our knowledge, we are the only arthouse that has taken this on,” she said. “In Omaha, we are trying to make change. We are trying to make change in all of Hollywood. And I think we can do it.”