Hey Lovelies, 

I am off to Bedfordshire now, as Bridget Jones would say, but before I go I wanted to leave you all with some inspiring women! Because this morning Geena Davis took to the BFI LFF and spoke about Gender in Media and Women in Film and Television at the first ever Global Symposium for the Geena Davis Institute. 

Geena Davis, who presented the event to a packed audience at the BFI Southbank, said: "Today at our symposium at the BFI London Film Festival, we are in a room full of the most influential business leaders and content creators who work tirelessly for equality and the empowerment of women on screen and behind the scenes. I'm thrilled to see the momentum building for better representation of women in the media. Here's what I say: if they can see it, they can be it."

While, BFI CEO Amanda Nevill, CBE said: “At the BFI we want film to be central to everyone’s life – culturally, creatively, industrially and economically, and within every part of that mission diversity and  equality are right at the heart of it all. The BFI Film Fund launched its 3 ticks initiative last year to address exactly this and provide an opportunity for women to be better represented in key areas of filmmaking. I am delighted the BFI stands alongside The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, and Women in Film & Television to bring you today’s Symposium, and feel extremely fortunate to be working with such extraordinary and talented women to shine a light on these issues; I want to be part of any conversation, scheme or initiative that gives women a way in.”

Also speaking about the event, Clare Stewart, Festival Director, said: “We welcomed Geena Davis as the keynote speaker for our global symposium in partnership with both her Institute for Gender in Media and Women in Film and Television to ensure that we have positive representation for women and girls in film.  We have 46 feature films directed by women in the Festival this year, which sounds fantastic until you do the math and work out that it is still only 20% of our programme.  Something has to change because that figure is broadly representative of the films we consider for the programme, so clearly we have more work ahead of us to also ensure that the vision of creative women gets supported, nurtured and realised.”

As well as, Elizabeth Karlsen, Chair of Women in Film and Televsion and Producer, Number 9 Films, who said: “The Geena Davis Institute has rigorously informed the discussion around gender in film and television. Thankfully this discussion has come to the fore once again. I am honoured to be a part of the Symposium, which I hope will further the effort to ensure that what seems to be a watershed moment for women’s expertise and voices in front of and behind the camera leads to equal representation across all aspects of the industry.”