“How can society shatter this glass ceiling instead of shattering a girl’s dream?” asks the narrator in junior Stacey Chen’s short film, “The Glass Ceiling.” Behind the narrator, statistics of small percentages of women in the film industry flash in the background.
When Chen attended the National High School Institute (NHSI) Cherubs summer filmmaking program at Northwestern University, she noticed that many of her female peers in the program felt overpowered by male crew members. Chen decided to document the underrepresentation of women screenwriters, producers and actresses in her final project “The Glass Ceiling.”
Chen said that the Glass Ceiling is “the barrier that separates women from the top-ranking positions in the film industry, so there are not as many female directors, screenwriters or cinematographers.”
NHSI, a five-week film and video program for high school sophomores and juniors, was divided into three categories: screenwriting, production and acting.
“[NHSI] was really rigorous and intensive, but it was super rewarding as the faculties were so experienced and friendly,” Chen said. “The people there all had such love and dedication to film and created an amazing atmosphere for us young filmmakers.”
Chen’s short film will premiere at the All American High School Film Festival (AAHSFF) on Oct. 9 at AMC Empire 25 in Times Square, along with hundreds of other student films selected from high schools throughout the nation.
Although the deadline for AAHSFF had already passed by the time the students at Chen’s program created their films, the program directors were able to get extensions for her film and nine others.
Chen was surprised that her film was selected because it was put together “really last minute.” After dropping out of directing another short due to schedule conflicts, Chen only had a day to create an entirely new project, shooting the film in a single morning and editing it in five hours.
“I didn’t have a script, crew or even the time to create a story,” Chen said. “I resorted to doing something I always wanted to do, which is creating a documentary about women in film.”
Despite the time crunch, Chen formulated a doable plan using Chen’s resources of female filmographers at the program thanks to one of her faculty members, Ugla Hauksdottir.
“My faculty mentor [Hauksdottir] helped me because she believed in the powerful message behind [my film],” Chen said. “If it weren’t for her believing in me, my film would never have been considered for the festival.”
Although Chen’s film is only 3 minutes long, she hopes it will impact anyone who watches it.
“I definitely hope everyone could work together to break that glass ceiling, not just in the film industry, but in other businesses as well,” Chen said. “[Women] should feel empowered and proud when they tell their stories.”
