Students from Wom*n’s Revue Protest AACTA Awards
Organisers of the protest have described the ceremony as a “sausage party”. Additional reporting by Aidan Molins.
Image: Aidan Molins.
A group of students from USyd’s Wom*n’s Revue have dressed up as sausages on the AACTA Awards red carpet in a protest against the low proportion of women nominated for awards.
The stunt, organised by Women in Film and Television (WIFT), was intended to highlight what their President Sophie Mathisen has described as “Australia’s biggest sausage party”.
Of the 28 feature films that were preselected for nomination, two were directed by women.
One of the students involved, Julia Gregoratto, said she had become involved “because I have a lot of friends who are studying at film school at the moment” and she wants to see an industry that is “more supportive of their work”.
Another noted, “If there aren’t women in directorial positions and positions of power it doesn’t filter down and deep misogyny pervades unchecked and unnoticed.”
The protest also coincides with WIFT releasing a Gender Charter directed at AACTA calling for greater transparency, consistency and commitment to achieving gender equality.
In particular, WIFT is calling for a minimum of 50% of judges and pre-selectors for all selection panels to be women.