Gemma Mitchell - UnderWire Festival
Check out this interview with the very inspiring Gemma Mitchell, UnderWire co-director and Wonder Woman.
If Only I'd Known: Gemma Mitchell Gemma Mitchell (above left), co-directs UnderWire, a short film festival championing female filmmakers. Gemma tells us why she wishes she'd learnt to edit sooner and spent more time reading about inspiring women...
What is your name/age/job title?
Gemma Mitchell, 28, Founder and Co-Director of UnderWire
What one thing do you wish you had knownat the start of your career that you know now?
Take your time and enjoy the process. I was in such a rush when I left uni to 'make it' and was also desperate to be a proper grownup! If Iād known what I know now Iād take more risks in that burgeoning time and be more present, rather than constantly trying to work out the next move.
If you could go back and give your younger (say 16-year-old) self any practical advice, what would it be?
Work out how to use a camera and editing software! That probably wasnāt as possible as it is now, but I spent a number of years a bit scared of getting into the nitty gritty of the kit, always thinking it was someone elseās specialism. They are really important skills to have that will open up an awful lot of doors.
If someone had told your 16-year-old self that you would be a successful festival director in your twenties, would have believed them? Or did you have other ambitions?
When I was 16, I was generally sitting in my mumās garage wrapping wire around glass bottles, covering myself in chalk pastels and stitching layers of beads and fabric together. I was very much on the arts side of things and had fully intended to be a fine art textile artist. Oh how things change! I took one module of film and TV in my first year at art school and was completely hooked ā a career where I could marry my addiction to stationery, my geeky organising as well as telling stories? There was no turning back.
Is there an embarrassing episode from your past that you wish you could edit out?
I can think of plenty, but none that Iād share professionally! Thinking about this more sensibly though, Iām not sure that there is ā it relates back to what I wish Iād know at the start ā I regret not going and doing something completely outlandish and ridiculous. Ask any of my closest friends and Iām sure theyād all tell you that Iāve always been a little too focussed!
Is there a single thing that you wish youād known about when you started out? Something that has shaped the way you work today?
I wish I had spent more time looking through a lens. And I wish I had spent more time reading the biographies of amazing women. It might sound strange, but I think mentors and role models are really important and reading about the lives of great women can really give focus and confidence to what youāre doing. I've recently read works by Kate Adie, Nora Ephron and also the brilliant Shooting to Kill by Christine Vachon.
Is there a project of which you are particularly proud?
Iām extremely proud of the UnderWire Festival. Founded in 2010, we support women making short films, reflecting the collaborative nature of filmmaking by screening work from female cinematographers, composers, editors, sound designers and actors as well asdirectors, producers and writers. Women are still underrepresented across the film industry, and we wanted to create a space to show off the outstanding female talent in these areas. Weāve gone from running with a pop-up screen in pub function rooms to this year partnering with the Ritzy cinema in Brixton. Weāve also been out on tour this year with support from Creative England, meeting fantastic women creatives across the country. Thereās still time for people to visit the festival, running from the 20 to 24 November. All details can be found at www.underwirefestival.com
What would you consider your ābig breakā? And how did you get it?
I had to mull this question over at length, as didnāt want to sound like a nob with an answer of Iām not sure Iāve had one! But on reflection I really think thatās true. Thereās not been one moment that I can specifically go, "Yip, thatās where it all changed" ā itās been a number of small wins, medium sized losses, and an awful lot of thinking hard about what it is I want to do and achieve. I know that supporting talent is incredibly important to me, as both a film and festival producer, and that I want to live in a world with storytelling at its centre.
For more information about UnderWire Festival visit www.underwirefestival.com - book your tickets now to support the female filmmakers.
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