By TJ Jaeger
Every day, Barbara Ann O’Leary sends out individual tweets celebrating the birthdays of women directors. She said she typically hears back from multiple filmmakers each day, thanking her for noticing and appreciating their work.
O’Leary, who is the social media specialist for the IU Cinema, created “366 Days of Birthday Celebrations” as part of her larger project, Directed by Women.
Directed by Women was created as a celebration of women filmmakers. O’Leary said what began as a local program hosted by the IU Cinema last September quickly transformed into a global event.
“If you’re a movie fan, and you choose to watch a movie with a woman director during that time, then you’re part of the party,” she said.
The idea formed in April 2014 as a personal project to praise women’s films, she said.
Following the idea’s formation, O’Leary said she pitched it to Nisha Pahuja, a Canadian filmmaker known for her 2012 documentary “The World Before Her.”
O’Leary said Pahuja loved the idea, which encouraged her to start organizing and promoting Directed by Women.
Because the absence of women directors is often viewed negatively, O’Leary said she wanted to provide a positive atmosphere to celebrate their work instead of shaming the lack of publicity.
“The idea is a lot of people don’t know how many awesome films women have made,” she said. “It’s all about film loving. It gives people who are interested a really easy way to get involved.”
Using her social media experience, O’Leary said she got in touch with groups and theaters around the world to participate in Directed by Women.
The United Kingdom, Spain, India and many other countries joined countless cities in the United States to celebrate with O’Leary, she said.
Without social media, O’Leary said organizing a global event like this would be nearly impossible.
“It’s essential,” she said. “It’s at the core of it. Even now with Internet, it’s hard to grab people’s attention.”
In the first half of September, the IU Cinema, the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, Wells Library and more showed film screenings and guest lectures from exclusively women directors.
Following the successful 15 days in September, O’Leary said Directed by Women transformed into a daily program.
On the Directed by Women website, O’Leary includes a continuously growing archive of more than 8600 women directors.
Because the majority of women directors are relatively unknown, O’Leary said her program’s positive atmosphere simply provides context.
“I’m not trying to fix a problem,” she said. “There are lots of problems that definitely need to be fixed, but I’m not offering solutions.”
The website also includes a global calendar of events that involve women filmmakers.
The website’s archives, events, birthdays and more are all managed solely by O’Leary on a day-to-day basis, she said.
“It’s more time-consuming than you can imagine,” she said.
However, when it gets closer to September, O’Leary said she will hire interns and make use of her Directed by Women Action Team to help promote and organize the global celebration.
This year, she said she will double the program’s length to encompass all of September.
“People had fun the first time, so why not have more time?” she said.
O’Leary said she originally chose September to commemorate the United Nations’ Fourth World Conference on Women, held in September 1995. O’Leary attended the conference while she was working under U.S. Representative and social activist Bella Abzug.
Along with lengthening the program, she said she plans to target more countries in Africa, South American and Asia to get involved with the project.
Beyond the message of identifying women directors, O’Leary said she just wants people to enjoy films as much as she does.
“I want people to know what it’s like to have fun and watch movies together,” she said. “If I’m trying to fix anything, it’s this.”
The program embraces films spanning all genres, she said. From narrative to experimental, fiction to documentary, she said she wants film lovers to see the wide variety of films women have made over the years.
O’Leary said the archive includes all films regardless of quality.
“Not everybody is trying to make a blockbuster,” she said. “Some films are good, and some films are bad. Just like men’s films.”
After the past couple years working on this project, O’Leary said she learned to share her appreciation of film with those around her, whether she knows them personally or not.
“It’s important to let people know that I love them and I love their work,” she said. “I think that can transform the planet.”
