ARTEF, the anti-racism task force for European film that was initiated in the summer of 2020 by European and U.K. film organizations, is now fully operational.
ARTEF’s main aim is to dismantle racist structures and combat all forms of racism in the European film industry and become a task force for change by raising awareness, offering education and insights, suggesting revisions to regulations and practices, as well as to weather opposition from the industry — especially from those who habitually benefit from institutionalised racism.
In 2020, ARTEF’s first step was an awareness training program led by Dr. Emilia Roig, trainer, author, and founder of the Centre for Intersectional Justice in Berlin. The workshops took place between November 2020 and May 2021 online with an average of forty participants from across Europe in each session.
The training programs will continue for European film professionals who are keen on tackling institutionalised racism and willing to do the personal work needed to help dismantling existing structures, and help building new, inclusive ones. To this end, ARTEF will be reaching out to all European film institutions, including film festivals, film commissioning organisations and filmmaking collectives, asking them to join the body and commit to training, ring fencing of resources, and to turn their awareness into actions.
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Initiated by Matthijs Wouter Knol, the director of the European Film Academy, ARTEF was also co-founded by its current board of directors — Helene Granqvist (producer Nordic Film Factory and president WIFTI), Paula Alvarez Vaccaro (producer Pinball London and European Producers Club vice president), and Marion Schmidt (co-director Documentary Association of Europe).
Funding partners include Bertha Foundation, British Film Institute, FOCAL, HessenFilm, MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, International Sámi Film Institute, Film Fund Luxemburg, Netherlands Film Fund, Norwegian Film Institute, Swedish Film Institute and contributions from the participating organisations ACE, EAVE, EWA, and WIFTI as well as production companies Magic Hour Films and Pinball London.
The awareness trainings were attended by top-level representatives of ACE Producers, British Film Institute, Cinéastes non alignées, Collectif 50/50, Creative Diversity Network, DAE — Documentary Association of Europe, Doc Society, EAVE, European Film Academy, EFM — European Film Market, EFP — European Film Promotion, EWA — European Women’s Audiovisual Network, EPC — European Producers Club, FOCAL, International Sámi Film Institute, Magic Hour Films, MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Netherlands Film Fund, Norwegian Film Institute, Pinball London, Power to Transform, Programmers of Colour Collective (POC2), ProQuote Film, Swedish Film Institute, Queer Media Society and WIFTI — Women in Film and Television International.