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TIME’S UP UK celebrates the women behind the films nominated at the 2019 EE British Academy Film Awards

“I want to give a joyful and grateful shout out for all the women nominated this year from me, Emma Thompson, on a set which boasts a female cameraperson, two camera assists, line producer and UPM, all being completely brilliant, more, give us more!” Emma Thompson

Last night at the 72nd EE British Academy Film Awards, TIME’S UP UK celebrated the 200 plus women who were behind the nominated films - female talent both on and off screen, from set directors, script supervisors, and sound editors, to producers, leading actors, supporting actors, directors and more, of which 48 have been nominated for a BAFTA themselves.

A year ago, in response to the growing TIME’S UP
movement in the US, a group of UK-based women from actors, producers, writers
and others from the film, TV and theatre industries catalysed a sister
initiative, TIME’S UP UK. The movement emphasised the need to highlight the
connections between the harassment revelations in Hollywood and the wider,
systematic nature of harassment and violence against women across all
industries, contexts, and countries.

TIME’S UP UK launched the Justice and Equality Fund,
managed by Rosa, and kick-started with a £1million donation from Emma Watson,
to challenge the sexual harassment, assault
and discrimination that persists across all industries and sections of society.

Funds poured into the crowd-funding site across the year. Gemma
Arterton, Keira Knightley, Tom Hiddleston, Gemma Chan, Sophie Okonedo, Emma
Thompson and scores of other actors followed suit, demonstrating their
solidarity with those less able to speak out against harassment, through
donations to the fund. They were joined by hundreds of other generous
individuals and Comic Relief. To date over 400 donors have contributed over
£2.7m to help bring an end to the culture of harassment, abuse and impunity by
resourcing an expert network of advice, support and advocacy organisations and
projects. Among the 36 grants were funds for Northern Ireland’s first rape
crisis service in over 12 years, for the Rape Crisis service in Shetland, for a
zero-tolerance campaign on college campuses in Huddersfield and support to help
disabled women in Wales recognise harassment on public transport.

Marai Larasi, Executive Director, Imkaan said, “Sexual harassment, and other forms of violence against women and girls, continues to affect millions of us each year. We need action at every level to create a safe, equal and just world. This is part of what Time’s UP is about. When Emma (Watson) and I went to last year’s Golden Globes, we made a promise to bring TIME’S UP home to the UK. We committed to ensuring that TIME’S UP UK would support, and be grounded in, the years of critical work already being done here. I am proud that TIME’S UP UK holds this spirit of solidarity, and that donations to the Justice and Equality Fund are going to organisations that are doing work to support survivors and to create change. At Imkaan we particularly welcome that grants have been made to specialist BME organisations, which are often the most marginalised in the women’s sector.”

Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, co-founder and executive director of
UK Black Pride, said; “Across the world, women of colour continue to bear the
brunt of systemic inequalities, including harassment in the places we work. Too
often we are left behind in local and global movements and so I’m delighted to
continue to support Time’s Up, as it not only includes women of colour front
and centre in the campaign, but also raises essential funds for our support,
empowerment and healing.”

“Sexual harassment stems from an imbalance of power.
Issues of workplace safety for women, and especially for women of colour, are
but a symptom of the power imbalance that plagues nearly every sector,” says
Heather Rabbatts, TIME’S UP UK Chair. “We won’t stop fighting until there is
gender balance in leadership, until there is equal representation both on and
off screen, and until all women have the opportunity to reach their full
potential. That’s why, at the beginning of our second year, we are taking up
the mantel from TIME’S UP in the States and launching TIME’S UPX2 here in the UK, to double the number of women in film both
on and off screen, and across other spaces where women are underrepresented.
And we urge those in the industry to take on the #4PercentChallenge, committing to announce a
project with one female director in the next 18 months. TIME’S UP UK is looking
forward to continuing to work to push for these changes, which will ultimately
lead to an increase in the nominations for these awards and indeed others across
the industry.”