The power of film: co-founders Ginta Gelvan and Johanna von Fischer on the international film festival 16 Days 16 Films

“It’s about the power of film,” says co-founder Johanna von Fischer when asked about the inspiration behind the short film festival 16 Days 16 Films. Now in its eighth year, the festival runs annually from 25 November to 10 December, aligned with the UN’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. Co-founded by von Fischer (a former director at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA)) and Ginta Gelvan (a former marketing director in fashion retailing and a co-founder of the production and distribution company Modern Films), the festival aims to amplify the voices of female filmmakers “whose work can be overlooked by traditional industry structures”.

Through Gelvan’s fashion connections, the pair initially secured funding from the Kering Foundation and expanded the festival from the UK and Ireland to France, Italy, the US and Mexico. Since then, the festival has continued to grow, bringing on board the Geena Davis Institute and UN Women, as well as Equimundo last year and the UN Spotlight Initiative this year.

While the event has been embraced by the non-profit sector, the concept hasn’t always been met with enthusiasm within the film industry. Many high-profile individuals have served on the festival’s jury, including Thandiwe Newton, Terri White and Barbara Broccoli, but funding has not always been forthcoming, says von Fischer. “The trades aren’t interested in short films really, but we made that choice [to focus on short films] because it’s easier to connect with people across 16 days.”

Two of the festival’s previous success stories include Cannes prize-winner Molly Manning Walker and Top Boy director Myriam Raja, while this year’s finalist Don’t Be Late, Myra boasts two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy as an executive producer. Yet, at the festival’s inception, the idea was dismissed by many of von Fischer’s BIFA contacts. “Their response was: oh, that sounds like it’s going to be a really dour bunch of films – I don’t think it’ll work.”

Fast forward eight years and the festival is going global. Open to female filmmakers from any country for the first time, this year’s finalists include films from the UK, Poland, North Macedonia, India, Pakistan, Ukraine, Canada, Turkey, Japan, Italy, France and the US. Gelvan and von Fischer are steadfast in their commitment to using film as a call to action. “Watching these films, I want to start a revolution,” says Gelvan. “They’re bold, intimate and unflinching. They speak truths many are still afraid to name.”

With one film released on each of the 16 days, Gelvan and von Fischer stress just how diverse these stories can be. Whittled down to a list of 16 films following an outreach campaign for submissions, this year’s finalists include a harrowing portrait of sexual violence in Natalia Zajączkowska’s She’s Asking for It, and Tokio Ohara’s Bird Woman, in which a woman wears a bird mask in a pandemic-struck Tokyo. In some cases, the festival arranges parliamentary viewings for MPs, as well as schools or women’s centres – using the power of film to educate and inspire.

Both Gelvan and von Fischer are at their most animated when discussing the real-life impact these films can have. “They truly open a door to feeling,” says von Fischer. After the screening of British film Absent (2019), which is based on multiple true stories that expose the fear and shame young girls endure when they are unable to afford sanitary products, von Fischer “got a message from an accountant who had nothing to do with the film industry, but he had seen this film and said it blew his mind – he made his whole office watch it.”

In a world where major film festivals often impose a prize-based sense of hierarchy on the competing entries, 16 Days 16 Films stands out for its more fluid engagement with each film. “It’s different from other festivals because we want the jury and committee to have an open discussion,” says von Fischer. In judging films that depict such deeply affecting topics, the jury are encouraged to give weight to their emotional responses in selecting the winning film, “because each person will have a different understanding of what makes something good, so it really does come down to your own feeling. They’re going with their hearts.”

Von Fischer’s description of how the jury compares films from across cultural boundaries is refreshingly subjective. “A film might be beautifully made, but there’s another that has such a deep and impactful message – everyone looks at it in a different way. The most successful films are the ones you can identify with, wherever they’re from.”

Across this year’s submissions, consistent themes have included topical subjects such as abortion rights as well as medical discrimination in general. The 16 finalists cover everything from psychological abuse to domestic violence, Iran’s Women, Life, Freedom movement and marital rape. The festival aims to use these films to question what cinema can be, and von Fischer emphasises the quality of filmmaking behind it all. “Even if you’ve never thought about the power of film and just want to see some really excellent filmmaking, this is the place.” 

Viewers are encouraged to vote in the festival’s audience award and engage with further resources via the festival’s Instagram page. “We’re trying to make a change,” adds Gelvan, “and use a beautiful art form for something good.”

16 Days 16 Films runs from 25 November to 10 December 2025.