ABOUT WANDA
Our history, mission and ethos
WANDA: Feminism & Moving Image was founded in 2016 by film programmer Rose Baker and artist and educator Dr Laura O’Connor. The impetus behind the festival was a desire to connect feminist film history and culture with the ongoing campaigns for both abortion rights and LGBTQ+ marriage rights in Northern Ireland, and the ongoing international migrant crisis. The festival was named WANDA after the 1970 Barbara Loden film in which she starred, wrote and directed, showing the myriad of roles women take up within the film industry. Naming the festival as a tribute also highlights an important part of the original mission to champion ‘lost’ or underappreciated archive feminist works by women.
WANDA is committed to the inclusion and representation of all identifying as womxn, transgender, gender non-conforming and gender non-binary. WANDA is an anti-racist organisation and is committed to actively challenging racism in all its forms.
Here is an outline of WANDA’s key elements:
Celebrating Those Working Today
Women in the film industry occupy every role, in front of the camera and behind. WANDA celebrates and supports these diverse individuals and roles by highlighting them through dedicated events.
The Feminist Archive
Why are films by women often regarded as secondary works or even lost completely from international film archives? Why are so few women filmmakers in the canon? WANDA’s archive mission is to interrogate and explore women’s film history, championing both classic and ‘hidden’ works and finding new audiences for them.
Global Lives
WANDA is committed to widening perspectives on the representation of women’s lives and experiences around the world as well as at home in Ireland. The areas of interest include but are not limited to: sexuality, the body, different ability, health, race, equality, gender, work, motherhood, child-freedom, the domestic sphere, relationships, family, migration, choice, identity, activism, creative expression.
New Cinema
WANDA supports and platforms new works by offering premiere screenings of innovative and artistically driven storytelling.
