“While WOS cannot claim every achievement by women (in SA), many of them are to its credit.”
Former minister of Arts and Culture Dr. Palo Jordan
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To achieve its objectives WoS engages in the following principal and closely linked activities, which are its core business in the advocacy of women filmmakers;
These provide a platform where women filmmakers can showcase their skills to their peers in the industry, but also a platform for networking and to bring about possibilities of co-productions and collaborations;
- Women Of the Sun Film Festival - an annual film festival showcasing films by women filmmakers world wide
- WoS-Last Thursday Showcase - Montly screenings showcasing films and skills by local women filmmakers
- Africa Day celebrations - in Partnership with Sanaa Africa, a 3-day African Arts festival held at Moyo's
- SA women's Day celebrations - during the Women’s Arts Festival (WAF) – a seven-year partnership with Newtown precinct in celebration of Shouth Afrca's women’s day in the month of August.
- High school screenings - Film Literacy Schools Programme: This includes post-screening discussions on the film's content as well as the filmmaking process.
WoS plays an important and ongoing role in facilitating training programmes through:
- Seminars - which cover some of the different topics that we have established as being important for our members (women filmmakers working in the industry).
- Workshops - Producer Development course 'Breaking the glass Ceiling'
- First Feature Director Development programme - assisting women to direct thier fisrt long-format fiction film
Continually lobbying to industry players and working closely with other industry organisations to ensure that African women filmmakers have equal opportunity to reach their highest potential in the film and TV industry.
Networking
For members - Formal and informal WoS gatherings geared towards creating networks and discourse amongst women to exchange experiences and ideas, forge new relations that will result in co-productions and utilise skills on each other’s film projects. This carried out mainly through the monthly screening platform, Internet forums and attendance of conferences/summits in other parts of Africa and the world.
WoS Strategic partnerships -with sister organisations in Africa, African and Women film festivals internationally, and also with industry organisations internationally whose focus is to support and nurture African filmmakers. This helps WoS in information and film gatherings and also to promote the work of our members.