ABOUT THE PROJECT

LOGLINE
Programmers of Colour Collective (POC2) are film festival programmers who are POCs, women and TSLGBTQ+*. Our objective is to advocate for a more inclusive programming pool worldwide.

SYNOPSIS
Film festival programmers are curators of culture, tastemakers, and ultimately decision-makers whose choices define whose voices will be heard and whose narratives will be seen.

Like film critics, they form an integral part of the filmic eco-system whose choices, in the eyes of the film industry and the general public, also define the value given to the films they select at film festivals. Programmers are, above all, individuals who carry their own set of vantage points, privileges, perspectives, and biases. Film festivals and international film festivals, in particular, strive to present selections that bear witness to the world’s multiplicity, bringing diverse perspectives from near and far to the silver screen.

When the pool of programmers is predominantly homogenous, male-dominated, and primarily middle-class, how does that affect the gaze that such pools collectively cast on the world through their selections? Can such festival programmer pools see the world other than through the dominant lens? What legitimacy do such pools of festival programmers have to select films from a diverse world that isn’t reflected among their ranks?

As much as reframing one’s perspective to include others is part of a programmer’s work, programming pools that don’t reflect and include their local and global diversity cannot legitimately claim to be purveyors of the best that the world has to offer if that world isn’t reflected in their staff.

Spurred by the many cases of (unconscious) bias in film festival selections that are gender-imbalanced, lack representation of people of colour, or else portray them or other underrepresented groups in a way that is inauthentic or culturally appropriative, this group of festival and industry programmers decided to take a magnifying glass to the international programming pool.

The collective’s primary aim is not only to stimulate a conversation around the lack of programmers who are people of colour at international film festivals but also to be a catalyst for transformative change towards a more inclusive international programming pool.

As a collective, we feel it is essential to advocate for greater inclusion of POC festival staff, including at senior levels, but also to explore how that inclusivity can affect decision-making, how films are curated submissions practices and outreach to diverse talent. We also aim at increasing our visibility as programmers who are POCs in the more general context that is, by and large white, cis-gendered, male, and middle-class. Despite the primary focus being on POCs, the collective’s approach is intersectional in recognizing that questions of ethnicity within the international programming pool are inextricably linked to those of gender, sexual orientation, religion, caste, colorism, socio-economic background, disability, etc.

As we want to bring more POCs into the profession and act as ambassadors for those entering it, POC2 also seeks to swell its ranks to bring the needle forward on our inclusion internationally. Ultimately, our primary objective is to make festival programs themselves more robust, reflective of international audiences, and richer through our inclusion. POC2 is also dedicated to encouraging independent programming in response to corporate and top-down selection processes.

PROJECT TYPE Organization

Co-Founders Hussain Currimbhoy, Lucy Mukerjee, Themba Bhebhe, Paul Struthers

WEBSITE programmersofcolourcollective.org

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