I’m sooooo excited to share with you that I’ve been working on a fantastic project. A panel for SXSW!!

As y’all know, this cinephile loves, loves, loves writing about movies, particularly gender depictions in film at Bitch Flicks. While there are fantastic film sites by women and women of color exploring gender and race in film, mainstream film criticism as a whole lacks diversity.

When you submit a panel to SXSW — you know, the huge film, music and interactive conference in Austin, TX — it goes through a 3-part process called PanelPicker. This is the part where YOU come in!

One of the deciding factors in having your panel selected comes from people’s votes. Anyone can vote. Click HERE and vote up! AND TODAY, 9/6 IS THE LAST DAY TO VOTE! UPDATE: SUNDAY, 9/8 IS THE LAST DAY TO VOTE! If you don’t already have a sign-in, just click “sign-up” and add your name and email address first. Easy peasy.

But let me give you some background info on the panel. So the fabulous Boston-based film critic (Boston ladies unite!) Monica Castillo (Dig, Bitch Media) asked me to join her in submitting a panel for SXSW exploring disparities in film criticism. In addition to Monica and yours truly, amazing panelists ReBecca Theodore-Vachon (Cinema in Noir, Film Fatale NYC, The Urban Daily), Kiva Reardon (Cleo Journal, The Loop) and Monika Bartyzel (The Week’s Girls on Film) will be speaking. I’m so incredibly honored to be amongst these talented writers.

In our panel, we’ll discuss why diversity in film criticism matters, non-traditional media outlets and mentorship. We’ll explore how to encourage and connect with writers from diverse backgrounds and if we should create separate feminist media spaces.

Here’s even more info on the panel:

“When Cineaste, one of the premiere film publications in the country, announced their second list of “Film Criticism: The Next Generation,” only two female writers and one person of color were included on their total online list of fifteen critics. As A.O.Scott of the NY Times noted, the list “is either short-sighted or symptomatic.”

“From the lack of top female critics on Rotten Tomatoes to the lack of full-time female staff writers, film criticism is not immune from the industry-wide issue of diversity gaps (note: there is no data available on film critics of color). In the findings of her 2013 study looking at gender in film criticism, Dr. Martha Lauzen said, “Film critics appear to have become less, not more gender diverse over the last six years.”

“This panel will seek to explore solutions to help alleviate the diversity gap. If the internet has democratized film criticism, let’s see it reflected in broken gender and racial barriers in the field.”

So please vote and here’s hoping our panel is selected. Fingers crossed!

Image by GoMattOlson via Flickr and the Creative Commons License