Kering Foundation, Modern Films reveal winner of 16 Films 16 Days initiative

UK director Myriam Raja’s The Third Sorrow, the story of a
Nigerian immigrant and single mother who is preparing for
her daughter’s “cutting” ceremony, has won the 16 Days 16
Films short film initative run by UK producer and distributor
Modern Films and the France-based Kering Foundation.
16 Days 16 Films is aimed at filmmakers identifying as
women, addressing issues around gender, inequality and
discriminatin with a particular focus on the subject of gender-
based abuse.
Nearly 150 submissions were received from France, Italy and
the UK, all 25 minutes or under.
Raja wins a cash prize of £1,000 and will now have the
opportunity to create a new public service announcement for
the national awareness campaign UK Says No More, which
works to raise the level of debate around issues of sexual
violence and domestic abuse.
The runners-up were Kedamono, directed by Antonella
Fabiano and Chiara Speziale, and Waves directed by Jessie
Ayles, who win £500 each.
Bafta-winning actress Thandie Newton, Proxima co-writer-
director Alice Winocour and Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker
were among the jury members.
The 16 fi lms by the finalists each streamed for one day from
November 25 to December 10 through the social channels of
Modern Films and the Kering Foundation, the corporate
foundation of the Kering group, chaired by François-Henri
Pinault that combats violence against women. The films were
also shared by NGOs Chayn Italia and En avant toute(s) in
France as well as UK Says No More.
The initiative was launched last year by Eve Gabereau’s UK
distribution and production banner Modern Films in
partnership with the national campaign UK Says No More. It is
run in-house by communications director Ginta Gelvan and
producer Johanna von Fischer, founding member and former
director of the BIFAs.
It was inspired by 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based
Violence, which has run annually since 1991 between the
International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against
Women and International Human Rights Day.
The other jury members included Kering Foundation executive
director Celine Bonnaire, Modern Films creative director Betty
Aldous, broadcaster Edith Bowman, Obscured Pictures head
of special projects Julie La’Bassiere, Elle France editor -in-
chief Katell Pouliquen, UKSNM partnerships manager Sarah
D’Angelis, and advocate and activist Marai Larasi.
The winners were announced at an awards ceremony in
London this evening (December 16).