The past week has been a pretty good one childcare advocates. First, Raising Films launched the Family Support Fund. Now True/False Film Fest and Kickstarter are working together on The Cradle, an initiative providing free, professional daycare during the four-day festival.
According to a press release from True/False, the two companies are seeking to “support the real, current needs of all parents, especially single or low-income parents, as well as model possibilities for other festivals on how to be more feminist and equitable.” With Kickstarter’s support, True/False “hopes to offset the cost of expensive child care and help parents give birth to their films, build essential industry relationships, and remember why documentary filmmaking is an urgent art,” the fest emphasized.
As True/False details in the release, women more often than men are impacted by “family obligations, especially as they pertain to young children.” These struggles are particularly exacerbated in Hollywood. “Filmmaking demands long hours, erratic schedules, and extensive travel. These factors create obstacles that wedge women without a financial cushion out of the film industry.”
“This collaboration really stemmed from a conversation with True/False about our internal initiatives centered around supporting female filmmakers,” Liz Cook, Kickstarter’s Director of Documentary Film, said in a statement. “We are incredibly excited to be collaborating with True/False to offer this important resource for creators with children.”
Many women directors have addressed the difficulties of making films while raising children in interviews with Women and Hollywood. “One of the largest challenges I struggled with in making this film was having two small children and juggling not only childcare but the emotional fallout of having to commit myself brain, heart, and soul, to something else,” “The Levelling” helmer Hope Dickson Leach revealed. “I wasn’t ready for this, and I didn’t feel empowered to ask for the things I needed. I won’t do that again. I want to make films for the rest of my life and I also plan to be a parent for that long, so I need to make sure both parts of my life are attended to as required.” LEach is a co-founder of Raising Films.
Access to dependable childcare would be a gamechanger in the industry, especially for women. Raising Films recently hosted an Industry Summit “to discuss practical solutions for parents and carers working in the film and television industries.” Its Family Support Fund is a 12-month project in the U.K. dedicated to screen professionals’ caring costs. These types of developments come as a welcome relief considering that childcare has been routinely denied to those working in entertainment.
The True/False Film Fest takes place March 2–5, 2017 in Columbia, Missouri. Visit True/False’s website for more information about The Cradle and the fest.
