More than four hundred individuals associated with the cultural sector have criticized the production company Ukbar Filmes and the public broadcaster RTP for excluding Black, racialized, disabled, and trans women from the television film project ‘Contado por Mulheres’.
In an open letter released today, prominent figures such as actresses Cléo Diára, Isabél Zuaa, and Sara Carinhas, director João Salaviza, theater director Pedro Penim, researcher Maria João Brilhante, and Teatro Griot argued that “the decision not to include Black women, racialized women, disabled women, and trans women, and their perspectives, is not a random act”.
“It is a strategic, political choice that perpetuates a narrow view of who can narrate, represent, imagine communities, societies, countries, worlds”, the document states.
The audiovisual project ‘Contado por Mulheres’ is set to have a new season of 20 television films directed by Portuguese women and inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The new season, currently being prepared by Ukbar Filmes in partnership with RTP, was presented on June 18 at the professional meeting Conecta Fiction & Entertainment in Cuenca, Spain.
Information disclosed at the time indicated that the 20 television films will address “a current and pertinent theme that concerns Portuguese society and humanity as a whole, inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda”.
Topics such as the housing crisis, youth unemployment, mental health, gender equality, migration, and refugees will be explored through both real and fictional stories, with production expected to begin after the summer.
The intention, emphasized by the Portuguese production company, is to focus “on stories that promote the integration of female directors into the increasingly challenging job market, fostering equal opportunities”.
The new season will feature directors such as Lúcia Moniz, Joana Botelho, Mónica Santos, Margarida Vila-Nova, Sandra Faleiro, Francisca Alarcão, and Maria João Bastos, among others.
Several directors from the previous season will return to the project, including Ana Cunha, Rita Barbosa, Fabiana Tavares, and Cristina Carvalhal, actress and theater director, who signed the open letter released today.
The first films of the ‘Contado por Mulheres’ project, based on literary works, began airing on RTP in 2022.
The signatories of the open letter questioned RTP about whether “mechanisms of inclusion, consultation, and transparency” were activated during the selection process of the directors and asked Ukbar Filmes if they are willing “to acknowledge this failure and take steps to correct the production structure”.
“How do you justify the total exclusion in both seasons of female artists, historically marginalized, whose work represents a real commitment to gender issues and inequalities — many with consolidated professional careers, significantly contributing to a richer, more plural, and transformative artistic and cultural sector?” they ask.
Among the signatories of the open letter are the Associação Cultural Nêga Filmes, professor Inocência Mata, screenwriter Fernanda Polacow, writer Gisela Casimiro, actor Hoji Fortuna, director João Nuno Pinto, director Renée Nader Messora, actor Marco Mendonça, cultural manager Maria Vlachou, singer Selma Uamusse, actress Tita Maravilha, actor Welket Bungué, and theater director Zia Soares.
The Lusa agency has sought clarification and is awaiting a response from both RTP and the production company Ukbar Filmes.
