Entertainment · Books & Arts · 2 hrs ago
Women Filmmakers Say Funding Systems Limit Their Work
Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat and Serbian director Jelena Maksimović spoke at a Tokyo festival talk about women’s cinema.
Both said women face financial and institutional barriers to making films, starting at the development stage.
Maksimović said Serbia’s Film Center lost its funding after the outgoing government retaliated against filmmakers who supported student anti-corruption protests.
The student-led movement won Serbia’s snap parliamentary election on October 25, and Maksimović hopes that victory can help overhaul the system.
She said funding for Serbian films remains limited and that damage from the previous government will take time to repair.
Sadat said women in Afghanistan face exclusion from the country’s film industry, which she described as controlled by a “cultural mafia” of older men.
Women filmmakers Shahrbanoo Sadat and Jelena Maksimović said funding systems and institutional barriers limit women’s work in film.
They made the comments during a Tokyo International Film Festival talk about the future of women’s cinema.
Sadat said discrimination starts during film development, before festival selection.
Maksimović said women filmmakers in Serbia struggle to access major funding and have fewer opportunities than male filmmakers.
- Who
- Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat and Serbian director Jelena Maksimović.
- What
- They said funding systems and institutional barriers limit women filmmakers’ work.
- When
- At a Tokyo International Film Festival talk; the article was published on November 2, 2026.
- Where
- The talk took place at the TIFF Lounge in Tokyo Midtown Hibiya, Tokyo.
- Why
- They said women face barriers to funding and discrimination in film development.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
A train station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad, prompting the student-led anti-corruption movement, according to the article.
Aleksandar Vučić resigned as president of Serbia.
The student-led movement won Serbia’s snap parliamentary election.
Variety published an account of the filmmakers’ discussion at the Tokyo International Film Festival.
- Speakers
- Shahrbanoo Sadat and Jelena Maksimović
- Event
- Tokyo International Film Festival talk on the future of women’s cinema
- Venue
- TIFF Lounge, Tokyo Midtown Hibiya
- Serbian election
- October 25
- Sadat’s latest feature
- No Good Men, which opened the 76th Berlinale
What people are saying
The discrimination did not start at the festival, but it started at the development level
We didn’t dare to apply to the big funding to get more money for our films because we knew we wouldn’t get the money there
Even when the film center worked normally we had a difficult time financing our films, the amount of money for Serbian films is very small and it’s hard to find co-production countries