\n<\/p>\n
\n\tSome of the most interesting television projects coming out of Flanders have one key thing in common: women directors. In recent years, projects supported by the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) have seen a significant increase in female professionals, jumping from 22% to 41%, and series like \u201cRoomies,\u201d\u00a0 from Flo Van Deuren and Kato De Boeck, have experienced great local and international success.<\/p>\n
\n\tSpeaking with Variety<\/em>, \u201cThe Class of 2000\u201d director Heleen Declercq says she believes this increase is due to the upcoming generation of filmmakers having grown up with women creatives to look up to. Even relatively younger directors like Van Deuren and De Boeck have already begun influencing those who follow in their footsteps. \u201cAround three years ago, we started seeing more women directors, and you have more women graduating in fiction filmmaking than before,\u201d adds Declercq.<\/p>\n \n\tBritt Raes, who is adapting her Berlin-selected short \u201cLuce and the Rock\u201d into an animated series for VRT\u2019s Ketnet (the children\u2019s arm of the Belgian broadcaster), echoes that thought, noting an increased number of women studying animation. \u201cI have taught at university for a few years now, and there has been a noticeable shift,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \n\tRaes brings up Emma De Swaef, who co-directed Netflix\u2019s \u201cThe House,\u201d as an example of an emerging female talent. \u201cA series like that is quite a big thing to have on your resume, and it\u2019s incredible for someone young to see that someone from Flanders can reach that,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \n\tUpcoming comedy series \u201cBOHO,\u201d about three 30-something women navigating life in Antwerp, for Belgian service Streamz, is a testament to the wealth of female Flemish creativity. All the heads of department on the production were women, an experience director Olympia Allaert calls \u201camazing.\u201d \u201cEspecially for a series like this, it was important to have an understanding of what the characters feel and go through,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIn many productions, all heads of department are men and nobody says, \u2018Wow, this is too many men,\u2019 but for women it works differently,\u201d notes series producer Helen Perquy of shingle Jonnydepony. The veteran also underscores the fact that she has felt a setback in the industry in the last five years. \u201cDecisionmakers are choosing safety, whatever that means. I feel they have become more conservative and, unfortunately, women still aren\u2019t seen as the safe option. It sounds cynical, but the white man is back,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \n\tBoth Raes and Declercq say the same, noting that, while more women are training to enter the industry, they are still facing some of the same old issues once they\u2019re on their way in. \u201cIt\u2019s not that the doors are closed for me, but I might have to knock when a man just has to walk through,\u201d says Raes. \u201cI\u2019m OK knocking on those doors, but not everyone has the energy or the conditions to knock and knock and knock.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tLastly, Karla Puttemans, the new CEO at VAF, says gender parity is \u201ccertainly important\u201d to her and the organization, but adds to the notion that all recent progress has not yet led to equality. \u201cThe gender balance remains unstable and uncertain, so we remain vigilant and continue to encourage and stimulate the sector on this important issue.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some of the most interesting television projects coming out of Flanders have one key thing in common: women directors. In recent years, projects supported by the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) have seen a significant increase in female professionals, jumping from 22% to 41%, and series like \u201cRoomies,\u201d\u00a0 from Flo Van Deuren and Kato De Boeck,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[16251,1660,6184,10954,418],"class_list":{"0":"post-27177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-flanders","9":"tag-lead","10":"tag-production","11":"tag-setbacks","12":"tag-women"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}