CalArts Partners with UN for Gender Equity Summit

As part of CalArts' (Valencia, CA) ongoing partnership with UN Women's HeForShe Movement, the Institute invited students to create animated short films that explored issues of gender inequality.

According to CalArts, "All in all, 13 student-created short films were produced and will premiere at the annual HeForShe Summit on Sept. 26, in conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. The trailer for the project has just been released, giving a glimpse into the works that will premiere at the UN."

In response to the students' work, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, under-secretary general and executive director of UN Women noted: "We’ve set these students a tough challenge, but the results are important both for their own aspirations, and also for the potential their films have to directly build gender equality and shape culture change. The inequalities and power imbalances that we are dealing with are complex, pervasive and deeply rooted. It can be a struggle to capture that complexity in words. These incredibly talented students wield the power to go right to the heart of it with their imagery, and shake us beyond our everyday perceptions. I know what we are going to see in these short films is going to be extraordinary and far reaching in its impact."

Learn more and watch a trailer for the films here.

Published: August 15, 2018