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The Glass Ceiling: What is it? And how do you break it?
Finnish migrant filmmaker Mari Soppela travels the world as she takes us on a five year investigation into the complex realities of the glass ceiling.

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.

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Docventures news One world
One World Film Festival March 2023 / Female Power 🔗
sorority
Full house with the sorority U.V.S.V. 6 Mar 2023
premiere
Dutch premiere De Balie 5 Mar 2023
News 1 news San Marino San Marino in Europa Film Festival March 2023 🔗

ifa 43rd International Film Festival Assen March 2023 🔗

De Balie De Balie kijkt: 5 March 2023 🔗

21 mar / 22 mar / 23 mar In Cinemas Screenings 21 March Tue 10:30 Mimik Deventer 🔗 Tue 11:20 Focus Arnhem 🔗 Tue 15:15 LUX Nijmegen 🔗 Tue 16:00 Dakota Den Haag 🔗 Tue 18:30 Hoogt Utrecht 🔗
w/ English subtitles
Tue 18:45 Concordia Enschede 🔗 Tue 20:15 ECI c.fabriek Roermond 🔗 Tue 20:45 De Balie Amsterdam 🔗
>>> <<<
Sam and Rebecca 21 mar / 22 mar / 23 mar In Cinemas Screenings 22 March Wed 10:00 De Balie Amsterdam 🔗 Wed 11:30 LUX Nijmegen 🔗 Wed 18:30 Hoogt Utrecht 🔗
w/ English subtitles
>>> <<<
21 mar / 22 mar / 23 mar In De Balie Screening in amsterdam 23 March Thu 17:45 De Balie Amsterdam 🔗 >>> <<< 24 mar / 25 mar / 26 mar IFF ONE WORLD and cinemas Screenings 24 March FRI 12:00 LUX Nijmegen 🔗 FRI 14:15 ECI C. Fabriek roermond 🔗 We celebrate the Czech premiere at the One World Festival in Prague in the Czech Republic. 🔗 FRI 17:30 Evald, NĂĄrodnĂ­ 28 🔗 >>> <<< Sam and Rebecca 24 mar / 25 mar / 26 mar In Cinemas Screenings 25 March Sat 11:30 De Balie Amsterdam 🔗 Sat 12:00 LUX Nijmegen 🔗 Sat 19:30 De Balie Amsterdam 🔗 >>> <<< 24 mar / 25 mar / 26 mar San Marino and amsterdam Screening in amsterdam 26 March SUN 11:30 De Balie 🔗 We are delighted and proud to represent Finland at the EU Film Festival in San Marino đŸ‡«đŸ‡ź đŸ‡ȘđŸ‡ș🇾đŸ‡Č🔗 SUN 21:00 Teatro Concordia (Via della Concordia, Borgo Maggiore, San Marino) 🔗 >>> <<< 28 mar / 29 Mar / 30 mar In De Balie Screenings in amsterdam 28 March Tue 11:30 De Balie Amsterdam 🔗 Tue 17:45 De Balie Amsterdam 🔗 >>> <<< 28 mar / 29 Mar / 30 mar In De Balie Screening in amsterdam 29 March Wed 11:30 De Balie Amsterdam 🔗 >>> <<< 28 mar / 29 mar / 30 mar / iff one world we are proud to be part of female power 🔗💅 Thu 18:00 Prague Municipal Library 🔗 >>> <<< 9 mar / 10 mar / 11 mar cinema release SCREENINGS 9 March 👇👇👇 Thu 11:30 LUX Nijmegen 🔗 Thu 12:00 Slachtstraat Utrecht 🔗 Thu 13:50 Forum Groningen 🔗 Thu 13:50 LumiĂšre Maastricht 🔗 Thu 15:50 Mimik Deventer 🔗 Thu 16:30 Focus Arnhem 🔗 Thu 18:45 LUX Nijmegen 🔗 Thu 19:00 Dakota Den Haag 🔗 Thu 21:10 Filmhuis Den Haag 🔗 >>> <<< 9 mar / 10 mar / 11 mar in cinemas SCREENINGS 10 March Fri 10:30 Mimik Deventer 🔗 Fri 12:50 Gigant Apeldoorn 🔗 Fri 16:00 Fraterhuis Zwolle 🔗 Thu 16:45 Filmhuis Den Haag 🔗 Fri 16:45 LUX Nijmegen 🔗 Fri 20:00 Dakota Den Haag 🔗 >>> <<< Poster It's Raining Women 9 mar / 10 mar / 11 mar IN cinemas Oh, we are in such a good company at the International Film Festival Assen 😎 SCREENINGS 11 March Sat 11:00 Slachtstraat Utrecht 🔗 Sat 13:50 LumiĂšre Maastricht 🔗 Sat 15:45 int film festival Assen🔗
w/ Sophie Witteveen / VVAO
Sat 16:15 Forum Groningen 🔗 Sat 16:15 Kino Laika 🔗 Sat 16:45 LUX Nijmegen 🔗 Sat 18:45 Filmhuis Den Haag 🔗 Sat 20:30 Dakota Den Haag 🔗
>>> <<<
Sam and Rebecca 12 mar / 13 mar / 14 mar In Cinemas screenings 12 March Sun 10:30 LUX Nijmegen 🔗 Sun 11:15 filmhuis Den Haag🔗 Sun 13:50 Focus Arnhem 🔗 Sun 14:10 Mimik Deventer 🔗 Sun 16:15 Gigant Apeldoorn 🔗 Sun 18:00 Forum Groningen 🔗 Sun 19:00 Slachtstraat Utrecht 🔗 Sun 19:15 LUX Nijmegen 🔗 Sun 20:00 Dakota Den Haag 🔗 >>> <<< 12 mar / 13 mar / 14 mar In Cinemas screenings 13 March Mon 14:00 Slachtstraat Utrecht 🔗 Mon 15:10 Mimik Deventer 🔗 Mon 16:00 Dakota Den Haag 🔗 Mon 16:35 LUX Nijmegen 🔗 Mon 16:45 LanterenV. Rotterdam 🔗 Mon 20:40 Filmhuis Den Haag🔗 >>> <<< Sam and Rebecca 12 mar / 13 mar / 14 mar In Cinemas screenings 14 March TUE 11:30 LUX Nijmegen 🔗 Tue 12:00 Slachtstraat Utrecht 🔗 TUE 15:10 Mimik Deventer 🔗 Tue 16:00 Dakota Den Haag 🔗 Tue 16:45 filmhuis Den Haag🔗 Tue 16:45 LanterenV. Rotterdam 🔗 TUE 18:15 Gigant Apeldoorn 🔗 Tue 18:45 Fraterhuis Zwolle 🔗 Tue 18:45 lantarenvenster r-dam 🔗 Tue 21:30 Focus Arnhem 🔗 Tue 21:45 LUX Nijmegen 🔗 Tue also on Cineville 🔗 >>> <<< 15 mar / 16 mar / 17 mar In Cinemas screenings 15 March Wed 11:00 Focus Arnhem 🔗 Wed 15:10 Mimik Deventer 🔗 Wed 16:45 LUX Nijmegen 🔗 Wed 19:10 Forum Groningen 🔗 >>> <<< 15 mar / 16 mar / 17 mar In Cinemas screenings 16 March Thu 10:30 Mimik Deventer 🔗 Thu 16:00 Hoogt Utrecht 🔗
w/ English subtitles
Thu 18:30 Hoogt Utrecht 🔗
English subtitles
Thu 18:30 Filmhuis Den Haag 🔗
>>> <<<
15 mar / 16 mar / 17 mar In Cinemas screenings 17 March Fri 11:00 Dakota Den Haag 🔗 Fri 14:00 Filmhuis Den Haag 🔗 Fri 14:30 Gigant Apeldoorn 🔗 Fri 16:00 Hoogt Utrecht 🔗
w/ English subtitles
Fri 16:30 LUX Nijmegen 🔗 Fri 18:00 Dakota Den Haag 🔗
>>> <<<
18 mar / 19 mar / 20 mar In Cinemas screenings 18 March Sat 10:15 Forum Groningen 🔗 Sat 11:00 Dakota Den Haag 🔗 Sat 16:00 Hoogt Utrecht 🔗
w/ English subtitles
>>> <<<
Poster It's Raining Women 18 mar / 19 mar / 20 mar In Cinemas Back in amsterdam. Special screening w/ MEP Vera tax in Venlo. All screenings 19 March Sun 10:00 LanterenV. Rotterdam 🔗 Sun 12:10 Hoogt Utrecht 🔗
w/ English subtitles
Sun 14:30 Dakota Den Haag 🔗 Sun 14:30 Focus Arnhem 🔗 Sun 14:30 Nieuwe Scene Venlo 🔗
w/ MEP Vera Tax
Sun 15:00 De balie amsterdam🔗 Sun 20:00 Filmhuis Den Haag 🔗
>>> <<<
screenings

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press press kit synopsis As a diverse array of individuals struggle to define what “The Glass Ceiling” means to them, we are introduced to our protagonist: programme director REBECCA BURKE. After losing her job and subsequently discovering that her male colleagues in similar positions earned almost twice as much as she did, Rebecca decided to take her former employer, telecoms giant TALKTALK, to court. Her battle for justice forms the backbone of our story as we follow her trial, witnessing her ups and downs as she contends with the unscrupulous machinations of corporate lawyers and the byzantine peculiarities of the legal system. The stakes for her personally and for thousands of women like her are massive. We see the devastating impact the trial has on her, psychologically, financially and emotionally. But with the support of other women, her steadfast and determined lawyer SHEILA ALY, and her friend, the dynamic and indomitable SAM WALKER, who has fought and won her own legal battle for equal pay, we are filled with hope that Rebecca might just win her case and set a precedent for women everywhere.

This dramatic narrative is interlaced with Mari’s 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 Rebecca’s 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 Finland’s 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 FRANÇOISE N'THÉPÉ, 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 PÕDER, 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.

It’s 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.
director Statement In 1991, I moved to the Netherlands from Finland and became a mother in 1995. Combining a family with a career was self-evident to me as a Finnish woman, but I encountered some cultural and social differences in Holland. I realised that I carried with me certain misconceptions about a woman’s role in society. Fast-forward twenty years and I made this film.

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 'It’s 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.
Bio Mari Soppela's film career has taken her on an odyssey from suicidal depression in her native Finland (Family Files) through challenging the fear of intimacy (Home Recordings) before going back north to trace the censored history of her German grandfather (Who the Devil Can See in the Dark) and returning to Amsterdam where she contemplated on motherhood (Mother Land). It's Raining Women set her on a five-year long journey to investigate the glass ceiling. Before her film career, Soppela was an internationally acclaimed cross-media artist and designer.

Filmography

2022 It's Raining Women
2021 Mother Land 
2015 Who The Devil Can See In The Dark
2008 Home Recordings
2002 Family Files
interview 1. What is has been your biggest challenge making this film?
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. 

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 Rebecca’s 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 didn’t 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. 

I’d 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. 
crew Creative producer
Cornelis Kasander
In forty years of his career, KEES (CORNELIS ) KASANDER has produced a hundred films and is known for Fish Tank, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover and Crusade in Jeans. He has also produced Soppela’s award-winning film Family Files and their collaboration spans over twenty years. Motion graphics designer
Irma de Vries
Contemporary Dutch artist IRMA DE VRIES builds interactive digital art spaces. Her immersive art exhibition Reflecting Forward was recently shown at the Moco Museum in Amsterdam and Barcelona.  Composer & sound designer
Leo Anemaet
With over a hundred titles under his belt, LEO ANEMAET makes versatile music and sound composition for installations, films, theatre and TV. He is known for Fiona Tan’s arthouse hit Ascent and Pieter Kramer’s 25 Minuten, 30 Minuten and Hertenkamp. Production company
LPMA Productions
LPMA PRODUCTIONS is an independent
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 It’s Raining Women directed by Soppela.
Co-production company
Submarine
Based in Amsterdam, LA and London, SUBMARINE is an award-winning production company that develops and produces feature films, scripted series, animation, documentaries, and transmedia projects. Co-production company
Ursus Parvus
URSUS PARVUS is an Icelandic production company founded in 2015 by producer HLÍN JÓHANNESDÓTTIR and rooted in her long career of film and documentary production in Iceland.

footer join us instagram linkedin twitter tik tok imdb go up We’re an independent film company, working on a small budget towards non-profit ends. We hope the film to kick-start something of a movement that far outlives the distribution of the film. We’re keen to call as much attention to the ‘glass ceiling’ as we can, especially amongst younger generations. We'd love you to join us! LPMA mail us sign up

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