Winners Revealed Women Over 50 Film Festival
The Women Over 50 Film Festival (WOFFF) took place on 16th & 17th September 2017 in Brighton, East Sussex, UK. WOFFF is an international film festival aiming to redress the age and gender imbalance older women face in the film industry.
WOFFF champions women over 50 in front of and behind the camera, and this September’s third annual, interactive, engaging, entertaining weekend of films and activities for older women was the largest event to date with 55 films being screened, from the 150 submissions received from around the world, the largest number of submissions ever received.
At Sunday evening’s exciting awards ceremony, prizes were awarded to filmmakers who had submitted short films into the categories for Best Animation, FilmDoo Best Drama, Best Documentary, Best Experimental Film, and the all-important Emerald Life Audience Choice Award.
WOFFF can exclusively reveal that this year’s winners are:
2017 WOFFF BEST ANIMATION – Espressivo: A Love Song to Coffee by Deb Ethier
2017 WOFFF BEST EXPERIMENTAL – Cherry Colour Buttonholes by Brenda Miller
2017 WOFFF FILMDOO BEST DRAMA – The Hide by Gaynor Macfarlane
2107 WOFFF BEST DOCUMENTARY – Rebel Menopause by Adele Tulli
2017 WOFFF EMERALD LIFE AUDIENCE CHOICE – Days of Awe by Rehanna Rose
Brenda Miller, who won the WOFFF Best Experimental Film Award, said “It’s so lovely to be recognised for my work amongst peers. WOFFF is a celebration of talented film makers who just happen to be older women. The festival atmosphere is so warm, supportive and welcoming – maybe that’s part of who we are as older women.”
Winning the WOFFF FilmDoo Best Drama award Gaynor Macfarlane said “On behalf of The Hide cast and crew I’m delighted to receive this WOFFF award. It means a lot to have our hard work celebrated in this way. It is also a huge accolade to be recognised as a female film-maker over 50 by WOFFF. This festival is a necessary celebration of the wisdom which comes with age. We would also like to thank the Scottish Film Talent Network for their support.”
Winning the WOFFF Emerald Life Audience Choice Award Rehanna Rose said “It’s a fantastic feeling winning the Audience Choice Award. It’s a very special award – it’s a grassroots one that’s from a diverse selection of the people who came to WOFFF to watch the films. It’s a really delightful award to win.”
This year’s festival included work from filmmakers in the UK, Ireland, France, Australia, USA Canada, plus new countries including Afghanistan, Iran and Egypt. There was also an impressive line-up of on-screen talent from actors such as Maureen Lipman, Miriam Margolyes, Carrie Cohen, Ewan MacIntosh, Sheila Reid & Maureen Beattie. Short films screening at WOFFF starring household names Denise Welch and Anita Dobson showed that women over 50 are finding roles in front of the camera and that women over 50 in film are here to stay.
Carrie Cohen (Just Saying) was amongst over 30 actors and filmmakers who attended the festival to see their work on the big screen and participate in post-screening Q&As. Carrie said “I think it’s fantastic to have a film festival particularly aimed at women who are involved in film and over 50 because women over 50 are quite often ignored.”
TV Actress Denise Welch who attended the event said “To say it’s an honour to have my film Black Eyed Susan screen at the Women Over 50 Film Festival is an understatement. I am a woman well over 50 now and I, like a lot of women, not just in the media but in life generally, am made to feel invisible. I had drug problems, I had alcohol problems, I was self-medicating my mental illness – Black Eyed Susan is in a way about that mental illness. But do you know something? My life began at 50; I’ve had a renewed interest in life since I turned 50. I’ve got a lot to offer; we women offer 50 have a lot to offer, and along with WOFFF, I just want to celebrate women – in all of our glory in every way that we can.”
Festival Director Nuala O’Sullivan said, “This year’s festival shows that filmmakers continue to have an appetite to make and share work with older women at its core and, from the festival-goer’s point of view, the appetite for seeing work that’s relevant, life-affirming and inspiring is undiminished.”
The Festival which will return in 2018, would like to thank those who have made this year’s Festival the best yet, and they include: BFI, The Brighton and Hove Independent, Bluebrid Tea Co, Emerald Life, FilmDoo, Film Hub South East, Latest TV, Mother’s Ruin, Norton Rose Fulbright, ONCA Gallery, Picturehouse Duke of York’s, RadioReverb, Silver Magazine, Sorriso, University of Brighton, Visit Brighton, Whicker’s World Foundation and QueerBee.