Ashley Catania

Media Educator | Programmer | Advocate

Chair Breakthroughs Film Festival
Audience Development Manager, Cineplex Entertainment

My interest in the film and entertainment industry grew from a very critical place. I didn't like a lot of the mainstream content I was seeing and always questioned the way women in most of it were represented. My criticisms made watching movies with me really fun - a rom com became a conversation about social inequalities and ridiculous gender norms that were constructed by and for a male gaze. But honestly, the least entertaining thing you can show me is the glamorization of violence against women, and movies are full of it. 

These interests led me to the National Film Board of Canada, where I spent four years teaching filmmaking and media ethics to students across the country. I spoke to students about representation and media construction and digital responsibility. I also had the chance to look at film content with a critical lens and create educational guides to aid in teaching complex subjects within the content. From there, I moved into a corporate setting, managing audience development for Cineplex Entertainment's alternative film department. This gave me the opportunity to help support smaller films and arts content that wouldn't otherwise reach large commercial screens. I learned the importance of having champions for diversity right from the start of a project - the creation and pitch - until the end - determining when and where it's screened. There's a huge need for diversity champions at every stage. We've recently seen huge box office results with a few high profile diverse leads - audiences have shown they want these stories, and we need the right people in place across the industry to bring more of them to screens.

My invested interest in diversifying the industry and supporting women brought me to join the Board of Directors ofBreakthroughs Film Festival, the only film festival in Canada dedicated to showcasing the work of emerging women directors. Organized by a small and passionate volunteer board, Breakthroughs holds an annual festival of short films over two nights, as well as several industry panels throughout the year to connect our emerging directors with industry expertise. We program from a mindset of inclusion and showcase unique stories from around the world. It's extremely important to me to help foster and encourage more women to get behind the camera and tell stories from their perspective.

It's important for women to delve into all realms of the film and entertainment industry. The more women writing, pitching, directing, editing, programming, marketing or making distribution decisions, the better. It just makes sense. The expansion of this will have so many positive results, hopefully shifting how women are represented on screen and potentially shifting real-world experiences as well. We especially need more equality-minded women in high powered decision-making positions, who can lead from a place of inclusivity and use their positions to champion this further. I still, in 2018, sit through a lot of industry panels made up of seven old white guys. We need better.