Write a short summary of what happens in the film

This online film is written in an advertising case study style about a campaign of posters for Women’s Work a women’s photographer collective. It features their Creative Director talking directly to camera describing the campaign and in doing so communicates their fundamental message about how women photography is considerably underrepresented in advertising around the globe. Cutaways show photographers and the numerous posters they created, each poster naming an agency or network. The film reveals itself to not be a traditional documentary case study, but instead, the only medium in which the posters ran. It ends with a strong call-to-action asking marketing agencies to consider putting a woman on all their shortlists. This film is not only about a campaign, it is the campaign.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

Less than 15% of photography used in advertising around the globe is shot by women. In fact, by some calculations, it could be well below 10%. Women’s Work is a diverse collective of female photographers in New Zealand who have a desire to change this statistic and unconscious bias. Not just in New Zealand either, but for the world. They recognise with modest resources their ability to affect change is limited. But the first step is to raise awareness and conversation of the subject within the creative industries. Creating a case study to carry this message as a Cannes Lion entry, to put in front of one of the most influential creative audiences in the world, seemed to them to be an efficient way to put this subject out into the world with little money.