History of NMWIF

Women in Film was born in the Los Angeles office of the late Tichi Wilkerson-Kassels in 1973. Wilkerson-Kassels, the publisher of The Hollywood Reporter, gathered together a group of women, mainly producers and writers, for a “brown bag lunch” to discuss the state of women in “The Business” and make plans to increase awareness of the contributions of women.

Word spread rapidly, with Atlanta forming their own chapter, then New York. Women formed their own versions of Women in Film in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, France, South Africa, Jamaica and Canada, as well as throughout the United States.

As the chapters grew worldwide, so did the need for a global umbrella organization to oversee efforts, to help advise the local chapters and to encourage growth and professional development opportunities. The first Women in Film and Television International World Summit was held in 1997 in New York City; a World Summit is now held every two years. With more than 40 chapters worldwide and a growing membership of over 10,000 women and men actively building a community of support, WIFTI continues to be a voice for women in the Industry.

New Mexico Women in Film was conceived in 2004 and delivered in September of 2005. Janet Davidson, Deborah Johnson, Karen Koch and Kaaren Ochoa invited every woman listed in the New Mexico Film Directory to the initial meetings. They wanted better networking and more support in the unique world that is New Mexico filmmaking. (Our big budget productions come mainly from Los Angeles and are supplemented by growing low budget local indie production.) We are in a singular position that allows us, as filmmakers, significant opportunities to not only work, but to do work we love.

In 2005, NMWIF representatives attended a WIFTI world summit for the first time. We were the fastest growing chapter to date and received significant attention from the international membership. By creating a professional alliance and choosing to yoke ourselves with the international force that is Women in Film, we make a statement of our professionalism and our intentions, as women filmmakers.

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A History of International Women's Day

adapted from the United Nations

International Women's Day (March 8th) was birthed with the turn of the Twentieth Century, to rally to women's suffrage and calls for peace. The first National Woman's Day was observed across the United States in 1909. In 1910, a meeting in Copenhagen of The Socialist International established a Women's Day, international in character, to honor the movement for women's rights and to assist in achieving universal suffrage for women. Russian women observed their first International Women's Day in 1913; the following year, elsewhere in Europe women held rallies to protest the war and to express solidarity with their sisters. In addition to the right to vote and to hold public office, they demanded the right to work, to vocational training and to an end to discrimination on the job, rights we find ourselves still fighting for today.

International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history. It is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. March 8 th is an occasion when women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of women's rights.

International Women's Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. This date is commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. Few causes promoted by the United Nations have generated more intense and widespread support than the campaign to promote and protect the equal rights of women. The Charter of the United Nations, signed in San Francisco in 1945, was the first international agreement to proclaim gender equality as a fundamental human right. A central organizing principle of the United Nations is that no enduring solution to society's most threatening social, economic and political problems can be found without the full participation, and the full empowerment, of the world's women.

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