The conference gathered more than 60 participants from the Maghreb-Mashreq region, namely Lebanon, Jordan, Morocco, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt, including women in the film making industry and activists working on enhancing and promoting gender equality in this industry.
The conference focused on highlighting the reality of women working in the film industry, challenges they face and successful initiatives they managed to implement to promote gender equality and break stereotypes in the film industry.
The conference resulted in a regional network being launched, formed by a network of civil society organizations in Lebanon, Jordan, Morocco, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt, and aiming at challenging existing stereotypes related to the image and role of females in the film making industry, advocating the role of women, in addition to the launching and dissemination of the online directory.
It is worth noting that one of the main outcomes of the project was creating an online directory (www.arabwomeninfilms.media) that gathered more than 187 Arab female film professionals, and serves as a tool to connect professional females with the media and ensure they have the same opportunities as male professionals, in addition to promoting their profiles and work among the public.
The conference was preceded by a two day regional training workshop for the network of civil society organizations that was formed on gender equality and the relation between gender and freedom of expression, the film making industry, the status of female professionals in the film sector, the obstacles faced, success stories of female professionals, and enhancing representation of women in the film sector.