Letter From The Editor

I have a friend — OK, well, more like someone I knew years ago whose life I still follow via social media — who recently submitted a film script to a Hollywood agent. Apparently, her Facebook post details, the agent liked the script, complimenting her character development and storytelling.

But the one hitch, the agent told her, was that the character was too dark, too complex — for a female protagonist.

When I relayed that anecdote to Vera Zambonelli — the founder of Hawaii Women in Filmmaking — it didn’t seem to surprise her.

After all, on cue, Zambonelli can rattle off a list of statistics about just how bleak things are for women in the film industry.

But rather than feel down about it all, Zambonelli took action, starting Hawaii Women in Filmmaking as a way to, as the group’s tagline proclaims, “change the narrative.” The idea, she explained to me, was to get more women involved in the behind-the-camera creative process, and that will mean more complex representations of women in front of the camera. You can read more about the group here.