In reply to UKC Articles:
Lissa (ShAFF PR) here (posting on Matt's account as I'm not I'm a climber myself)…
Sorry if anyone’s disappointed by Rab only having a men’s cut on the jacket. It wasn’t a calculated move to annoy or alienate women. We were going to just do a prize of ShAFF tickets but our title sponsor Rab last week kindly said they could provide a new Flashpoint jacket but that at the current time they’ve only got a men’s cut available.
Having been (rightly) criticised for the past couple of years about the lack of women on the big screen at SHAFF, Matt (the Festival Director) and myself have put a big effort into sourcing more films featuring women or made by women. ShAFF’s a small operation (just me and Matt on year round with a load of amazing volunteers who help us pull it together). It’s Rab coming on board as title sponsor that enables us to make the festival viable.
This is what we’re doing to encourage more women in adventure film:
- We’ve doubled the number of films with women behind and/or in front of the camera.
- We have created a new Best Women In Adventure Film prize.
- We have a new Women in Adventure Film Judge.
- Half the films in the trailer feature films made by or starring female athletes.
- We’re running the Women in Mountain Adventure Film Competition with the BMC, Women Climb and Sport Is Beautiful / Women’s Sports Trust with £850 in prize money and a spot at ShAFF for the winner. We have 14 entries.
- The mezzanine level of the Workstation Lowepro Adventure Photography Exhibition will be devoted to women in adventure photography and Lowepro have sponsored a Women in Adventure category in the ShAFF Single Shot photo competition.
- We’re launching a Women in Adventure Network with 6 panellists including Rab athlete Squash Falconer with an audience of invited guests to discuss how to improve female representation at the festival and more widely in the industry.
- We’re working with a local school and have invited 5 students to come and interview our panellists to tie in with their work on the Sport England #ThisGirlCan campaign.
Find out more:
http://www.shaff.co.uk/shaff-fringe/women-in-adventure-network/
It’s not perfect but we’re trying really hard. If you’d like to get involved, or you’d just like to shout at me about this, drop me a line. I’m lissa@heason.net My phone number’s on the ShAFF website. It’s always the criticisms that push you to try hard and do better next time round and I used to work in politics so I’ve got a thick skin.
Meanwhile, believe me, I simply took the view as a female runner and cyclist that I wear loads of men’s kit and I’d be more than happy to win a £200 jacket in a men’s cut and it made for a better prize than just offering ShAFF tickets. Rab are a great, local company, founded in Sheffield, based in Derbyshire and really nice people. We’re really proud to work with them.
PS Dan Thompson, Marketing Manager for Rab adds: ‘The Flashpoint Jacket is a very technical piece which is unlikely to have mass market appeal and as such is currently only available in two colours and a men’s model (a women’s model is in the pipeline). Offering it as a prize was never meant to alienate anyone and we are sorry for any offense caused. We are more than happy to supply an alternative women’s product of the winner’s choice (with the same MSRP) if requested.’