Scrutinizing the statistics and delving into the lived experiences of women battling discrimination throughout the globe she exposes the uncomfortable truths and dirty secrets of gender bias in the workplace.
Simultaneously light-hearted and deadly serious, this vital, creative and surprising film shines a light on a much misunderstood phenomenon and acts as a rallying cry to women - and men - everywhere to continue the fight for gender equality.
One World Film Festival March 2023 / Female Power đ
Full house with the sorority U.V.S.V. 6 Mar 2023
Dutch premiere De Balie 5 Mar 2023
De Balie kijkt: 5 March 2023 đ
w/ English subtitles Tue 18:45 Concordia Enschede đ Tue 20:15 ECI c.fabriek Roermond đ Tue 20:45 De Balie Amsterdam đ
w/ English subtitles
w/ Sophie Witteveen / VVAO Sat 16:15 Forum Groningen đ Sat 16:15 Kino Laika đ Sat 16:45 LUX Nijmegen đ Sat 18:45 Filmhuis Den Haag đ Sat 20:30 Dakota Den Haag đ
w/ English subtitles Thu 18:30 Hoogt Utrecht đ
English subtitles Thu 18:30 Filmhuis Den Haag đ
w/ English subtitles Fri 16:30 LUX Nijmegen đ Fri 18:00 Dakota Den Haag đ
w/ English subtitles
w/ English subtitles Sun 14:30 Dakota Den Haag đ Sun 14:30 Focus Arnhem đ Sun 14:30 Nieuwe Scene Venlo đ
w/ MEP Vera Tax Sun 15:00 De balie amsterdamđ Sun 20:00 Filmhuis Den Haag đ
This dramatic narrative is interlaced with Mariâs encounters with a succession of women who have broken through, or are attempting to break through, their own glass ceilings. As she seeks to understand the global and historical perspective of Rebeccaâs fight, Mari travels the world and meets:
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, the award winning journalist and civil rights activist, and the first African American woman to enrol at the university of Georgia
TARJA HALONEN, who became Finlandâs first woman president in the year 2000
Expat IT director MERVI LAMPINEN, who smiles patiently as she is regularly mistaken for a secretary at meetings
Polish truck driver ANNA CENDALSKA who timidly plans to ask for a pay rise
Parisian architect FRANĂOISE N'THĂPĂ, who has formed her own company to confront the oppressive masculine legacy of Le Corbusier
Diversity consultant MIYOKO KOJIMA, who is like a fresh breeze of awareness in the patriarchal corporate world of Japan
She also comes across Estonian waiter AKSEL PĂDER, who decides to become a stay at home dad so that his wife can continue her studies and fulfil her ambition to become a veterinarian
While the stories of the film offer some hope of progress, they also illustrate the enduring struggle faced by women everywhere. And the sad truth is that post pandemic, the gender pay gap is widening again. The battle is not over.
Itâs Raining Women is an urgent cri de coeur and an indispensable film for today. As Charlayne Hunter Gault reminds us, we must recognise and celebrate the struggles and achievements of these women and then pick up the baton and carry on their fight for gender equality.
In 2016, I stumbled upon The Economist Magazine's glass ceiling index and instantly knew I would have to make a film about the glass ceiling.
I interviewed the subjects at home and followed them at work. My interviews are conducted in a particularly personal style which has become a trademark of my films that results in an intimacy of storytelling which is where I wanted my camera to go.
I am obviously keen on empowering women, the women in front of the camera and my female audience, but I am not making 'Itâs Raining Women' for women only. Cinema for me is emotion, regardless of gender or sex. I want the audience, male and female, to go through a personal development while watching the film. We need to first understand that glass ceiling before we can break through. The first step is awareness.
Filmography
2022 It's Raining Women
2021 Mother LandÂ
2015 Who The Devil Can See In The Dark
2008 Home Recordings
2002 Family Files
Every documentary film is a challenge, and this film was no different. To find financing, and to be able to make the film you want to make, is always a fight. The biggest challenge for this film was to find women who allowed me to film, while they were taking a great risk. I was very, very lucky to have found Rebecca, Sam and Sheila. I am grateful that they trusted me as a filmmaker and let me film their stories.Â
2. Did you find any difficulties finding women willing to speak up?
The glass ceiling is a concrete threat to many women and quite a few declined once they realised I would be filming them at work. It is easier to speak up for those who have already broken through a glass ceiling than for those who are still attempting to do so. In the five years of making the film, there has however been a clear transformation, due to the meToo movement. I started my investigation in 2016, before Weinstein, Trump et cetera. So more and more women are speaking up. But for the glass ceiling we still need a momentum. Will you pick up the baton?
3. What was it about Rebeccaâs case that made you decide this was the case?
The starting point was not to find a perfect court case, but to portray the different aspects of the glass ceiling index. Equal pay is only one aspect of the glass ceiling.
4. Did any corporations like TalkTalk offer any input on their perspectives?
I didnât approach TalkTalk. I attended the court case every day and wrote down notes. A film is only 90 minutes. You have to make choices about what you want to tell. That is the challenge in any film.Â
Iâd be curious, however, to hear what motivates a woman barrister to represent a corporation that clearly discriminates. But then again the glass ceiling is not a fight between the sexes. It is a societal problem that must be addressed. It is structural.
5. What did you find most interesting whilst making this documentary?
I have found the investigation of the glass ceiling most interesting. I had no idea. Now, I do and I am not shocked anymore. I hope the people who will see the film will be and will take action and care of their rights, especially younger generations.Â
Cornelis Kasander
Irma de Vries
Leo Anemaet
LPMA Productions
film company developing and producing creative documentary. It was set up by Finnish filmmaker Mari Soppela and Dutch composer Leo Anemaet in 2006 in Finland. LPMA RECORDINGS is their Amsterdam based music and sound studio, set up in 2000.
LPMA has produced the feature-length documentaries Home Recordings, Who the Devil Can See in the Dark, Mother Land and Itâs Raining Women directed by Soppela.
Submarine
Ursus Parvus