TEDWomen 2018 Film Festival: Our program of conference shorts

Between the amazing speakers of TEDWomen, there’s a carefully programmed mini film festival — brilliant short films, curated by Jonathan Wells and Anyssa Samari, that set (or re-set) the mood in the theater, and celebrate the creativity of women and men around the world. Here’s what played, session by session:

Session 1: Showing Up

The short: “Ama”
“Ama” is a short film written, performed and directed by French deep-sea diver, dancer and filmmaker Julie Gautier. Shot in Venice, Italy, in the world’s deepest pool, Gautier dedicated her film “to all the women of the world.”
Creator: Julie Gautier

The short: “Campaign to End Loneliness – Be More Us”
Everyone knows that that it’s easy to make friends and strike up conversations when you’re a kid. With this film, Campaign to End Loneliness takes children as their inspiration.
Creatives: Alex Mawby, Ben Lambert for BMB Agency

The short: Natalie Prass: “Sisters”
Funky feminist anthem “Sisters” is an empowering rallying cry for women everywhere.
Directed by Jordan Bruner

Session 2, “Getting Started”

The short: “Finansforbundet / Equal Pay”
The film is a simple yet powerful reminder of how spontaneously boys and girls alike react to obvious unfairness, and raises the question if our sensitivity to unequal treatment grows weaker as we grow older.
Creator: Directed by Emilie Norenberg

The short: Bomba Estéreo: “Soy Yo”
Eleven-year-old Sarai Gonzalez became an overnight sensation after appearing in Bomba Estero’s “Soy Yo,” a music video about embracing yourself and loving your flaws. The video garnered over 30 million views, and the New York Times called Sarai a Latina icon.
Directed by Torben Kjelstrup

Session 3, “Breaking Out”

The short: “Les machines impossibles: Musique”
“Les machines impossible” series (Impossible Machines), a tribute to Rube Goldberg, explores and reinvents what’s inside complex mechanisms. The fourth episode in the series, commissioned by Centre Pompidou, answers the prompt: “What could be inside a street organ?”
Directed by Florent Porta

The short: “Unstereotype Alliance: The Problem Is Not Seeing the Problem”
This film serves as a stark reminder that the advertising industry has a long way to go to remove sexist, racist and false stereotypes from its output. The film was created for Unstereotype Alliance, the industry-led initiative convened by UN Women, the lead UN agency on gender equality and women’s rights.
Creator: MullenLowe London and directed by Joanna Bailey

The short: Tom Rosenthal: “It Won’t Be Me”
Bristol-based motion designer and illustrator created a beautiful retro dreamland for this music video for singer/songwriter Tom Rosenthal.
Directed by Chloe Jackson

Session 4, “Gathering Together”

The short: “disillusionment of 10 point font”
Condon created this clever animated film with his Smith Corona Galaxie Deluxe typewriter and sound design with his friends at One Thousand Birds.
Directed and animated by Greg Condon

The short: Jain: “Alright”
This music video features Jain and five women breaking free from the chains of their daily lives to live out their passions in another special-effects tour-de-force from French filmmakers Greg & Lio. Their previous collaboration for Jain’s “Makeba” was featured at TED2017.
Directed by Greg & Lio

Session 5, “Showing Off”

The short: “ALEXA! Play Baby Shark”
This adorable viral video captures 2-year-old Zoe Turner’s frustration with her virtual assistant.
Captured by Cryssy Turner

The short: Sisterhood Anthem: “Ooh Child”
This video is the centerpiece for “Sisterh>>d,” a visual album project from Girls Who Code to celebrate young women everywhere driving change in their communities.
Directed by Kathryn Ferguson

Session 6, “Moving Forward”

The short: “One Minute Art History”
In under a minute, filmmaker and educator Cao Shu takes us on an epic journey through centuries of artistic styles and movements.
Directed by Cao Shu