Brigitte Truong
A&E Reporter

The first Oscar win by a woman director is an inspiration to students in Humber’s film and television program, one of its professors said.
“It sets a great example for my students,” Donna O’Brien-Sokic said of Kathryn Bigelow’s Academy Award for The Hurt Locker. “She has broken this glass ceiling and everybody goes, it is doable, it is achievable, and I can reach that goal too.”
Women directors will also be showcased at the Female Eye Festival next week in Toronto.
“The Female Eye Film Festival is a great stepping stone for that,” she said.
Film and television co-ordinator Eva Ziemsen said she applauds the festival for its efforts in representing women’s key creatives in the film industry.
Ziemsen said women make up about three to four per cent of the Director’s Guild of Canada and that most female directors shy away from the very fact.
“Most women directors don’t want to talk about this because they don’t want to harp on the fact that they’re women and it’s hard for them. But it ultimately is,” she said.
“Telefilm, which finances feature films in this country, award money to 27 films that had female directors but 181 to films with male directors…We need film festivals like Female Eye that supports female work,” she said.  “It’s time for women to get that kind of showcase.”
Founder and festival director Leslie Ann Coles wonders if Bigelow’s win will help other women directors move forward.
“I think it puts a magnifying glass on the status of women directors around the world,” she said.
Although the festival stresses the importance of female directors, Coles assures that the festival is inclusive. Humber male students are also encouraged to attend the festival.
“It took a couple of years for the general public to realize that we’re not a Marxist feminist festival,” she said. “We’re all women who make films but we encourage men to come out to see the films.”
The festival and film screenings will run from March 24 to March 28 in downtown Toronto.