LFA Launching Women’s Mentorships at Annecy 2021

“In the spirit of Geena Davis’ slogan, ‘If she can see it, she can be it,’ we are convinced that talent is everywhere, and that by working on the ground with female artists, creating real opportunities for new talent, we can guide attitudes towards greater inclusion and diversity in our industry so that animation becomes a better reflection of our society,” commented LFA co-founder Eleanor Coleman.

Source: Les Femmes s’Animent
Women in Short Films:
Focus on Audacious Filmmaking in Eastern Europe:
Animation! Pan Latam Female Directors Mentoring Program:
LFA is a French association that supports and promotes the role of women in the animation industry, both on screen and in the creative process. Among many other efforts, LFA has actively promoted these goals through mentorship programs since its launch in 2015. It regularly participates in domestic and international policy and industry events related to gender issues, including at this year’s Annecy Festival, where it has organized several panels including:

• Animation Takes a Stand: A candid discussion between artists and decision makers exploring how best to create opportunity and accelerate the process of inclusion in all aspects of the animation industry.

Les Femmes s’Animent (LFA) has announced Parcours de Femmes, a new mentoring program launching this year at the Annecy 2021. The initiative will help French speaking women who aspire to produce animated short films. Six French speaking women, three from France and three from French-speaking Africa, will be chosen for development support of a project to be pitched to financing and production partners at Annecy 2022.
At the International Women in Animation Summit at Annecy, co-organized with WIA, LFA will host the following panels (in addition to its presentation of Parcours de Femmes):

• Sponsored by Ventana Sur and the Institut Français d’Argentine. Meet the Laureates of this impressive first edition of ambitious female animation directors from across Latin America.

Films will be based on the stories of women that embody artists’ struggles and victories. Participants will each be assigned a mentor who will follow their project from development through the presentation at Annecy 2022.

• Short Video portraits of the Women selected in this year’s competition.

Inclusion and Representation:

• Discover the exceptional vision and success of this unique group of women creators who against all odds continue to surprise us.

Parcours de Femmes is the first LFA mentorship initiative to extend beyond France’s borders. The broad geographical remit was in part inspired by the “Manifesto for a Feminist Education” by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi, which advocates for “the moral urgency of imagining a different education for our children together, in an attempt to create a fairer world for women and men.”