International Women’s Day 2019

International Women’s Day At Exeter Phoenix

One day isn’t enough to celebrate International women’s day at Exeter Phoenix! You can expect a whole host of great films to mark female achievements on and off the screen at Studio 74 as well as a multitude of female led exhibitions. Read on as we share some highlights as part of this monumental day of celebration in this blog post.

We recently played host to a sold out screening of SHEXTREME, a fun cinematic celebration of active women in adventure sports. An equally energising screening of MAIDEN is on the way on Thursday – which will feature a special satellite Q&A with sailor Tracy Edwards – and the opening of KINDERGARTEN TEACHER happens this Friday – starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and directed by Sara Colangelo. With screenings like these, we’re happy that Studio 74 is able to share in this celebration (at least in a cinematic sense!) and let female filmmakers and creatives share their stories.

But our commitment to the importance of female representation and agency doesn’t stop there. We joined the F-Rating movement in 2017, which was established by Bath Film Festival to champion films made by and featuring women. Since then, we’ve regularly programmed films featuring women in prominent acting, writing and directing roles.

Our film programmer Claire shared her reasons for adopting the F-rating system and its importance; ‘We believe that the stories we see on screen need to be told by a broad spectrum of people who represent our diverse culture. The F-Rating is applied to all films which are directed by/or written by a woman and it allows audiences to vote with their seat, making informed choices about the films they choose to see.  F-rated empowers women in all areas of the film industry and is one step in creating much needed change. Exeter Phoenix is proud to support F-rated.‘ See our current F-rated films on offer here.

Alongside these great film screenings we are also hosting Occupy The Airwaves from Dreadnought SW who will be producing another 16 hours of women’s voices speaking and singing on the radio this Friday for International Women’s Day 2019 in collaboration with Phonic FM, Exeter’s community radio station who we are lucky enough to have based right here in our building.

Dreadnought SW are also exhibiting in our Walkway Gallery with a unique textile banner created by a group of women survivors of domestic violence. The banner and documents that process the creation of the piece can be seen in our Walkway Gallery until Sun Mar 10.

Our other gallery spaces are also currently featuring work by female artists. Jacqui Hallum’s Phoenix Gallery exhibition explores ideas around discontinuity and impermanence through abstract paintings and ornate Berber rugs. Over in Gallery333, Lily Myers’ micro-installation explores ideas around domesticity, play, labor and consumption. These exhibitions both run until Sun 21 Apr.