Meet Bumble’s Female Film Force Finalists

Bumble proudly announces the next five films it will fund as part of its Female Film Force 2019. Five aspiring filmmaking teams will now be fully funded to create their own short film as part of Bumble’s initiative offering grants to ambitious filmmakers across the UK, Ireland, France and Germany. These films will be created by teams of all female writers, directors and producers with an emphasis on achieving at least a 50/50 gender split within their extended production teams.

MA’AM
Joy Wilkinson (Writer-Director); Jude Goldrei (Producer); Kate Reid BSC (Director Of Photography) 

Struggling with post-natal depression after the birth of her ninth baby, Queen Victoria faces a photo-shoot to show off her ‘perfect family’ to the world – the last thing she needs!

SUNITA
Joan Iyiola (Co-Writer & Producer); Chibundu Onuzo (Co-Writer & Producer); Millie Marsh (Producer) 

A story about a young black girl’s relationship with her hair, and how it helps her understand who she wants to be.

ASCENDING GRACE
Karen Healy (Writer); Sharon Cronin (Producer); Claire Byrne (Director)

A small plane with two female pilots is about to take off from Knock with a cabin full of religious holiday-makers – but things get tense when the flight is grounded…

ET CHAQUE NUIT
Julie Robert (Director/Producer); Céline Le Thérisien (Writer/Line Producer); Maëva Poupard (Writer) 

Since childhood, Lea has been seeing ghostly deer looming around her. If only she managed to take one photograph of them, maybe her girlfriend Maud would take her issues seriously. 

VIVA LA FEMINISTA
Silke Meya (Director); Laura Mentgen (Director of Photography); Noumia Film

A documentary about six children from Berlin. The film will offer insights into different cultural, social, religious and political understandings of role models and modern feminism.

Previously, we at Bumble combed through a record 1300 applications for the second annual Female Film Force initiative. It was tough given the calibre of entries, but we’re proud to present those who were our top 11 finalist filmmakers:  

Julie Robert
Pauline Quinonero
Emilia Kurylowicz
Noumia Film
Karen Healy
Megan Moroney
Clarice Laus
Helen Gladders
Joan Iyiola
Joy Wilkinson
Theresa Varga 

This talented, diverse group of creatives all centred their ideas around strong women protagonists, highlighting narratives too often underrepresented on our screens. 

The subjects of their short films range from mental health and ageism to body confidence and postnatal depression — all issues affecting women of all ages across Europe.