Women Who Shoot: Sundance 2018 panel

Cinematographers Greta Zozula, Claudia Raschke, and Autumn Eakin. All photos: Danna Kinsly for American Cinematographer

This Sundance 2018 panel — held at the Canon Creative Studio in Park City on Main Street — tackled issues of gender, opportunity and commitment.

The loudest applause at the Sundance awards ceremony was not for any contestant, but for jury member Rachel Morrison, ASC, who days earlier made history by becoming the first female cinematographer to get an Oscar nomination. That it happened now is a reflection of changing times. But the fact that it took the Academy 91 years speaks volumes about the roadblocks — and worse — that women in the film industry face.

So the discussion event “Women Who Shoot” — held on January 19 at the Canon Creative Studio — was a timely choice to kick off a series of panels hosted by Canon and moderated by American Cinematographer at the recent Sundance Film Festival. Just eight months earlier, I moderated a similar panel for the ASC in New York, and the subject of sex and power didn’t even come up. 

Now, it’s inescapable.

Three cinematographers at different stages in their career gamely tackled this thorny subject during our hour-long discussion in the packed Canon Creative Studio. They talked about the work as well, offering insights into the festival fare they’d shot.