Haus of Film – Supporting Women in Film by fundraising

Haus of Film is an online Etsy shop which has recently launched a new fundraiser to support women in film. Its aim is to provide funding to those female filmmakers requiring that financial support to create their films.

Founded in August 2019 by Nicole Russin-McFarland, a film director, alongside the actors Samantha V Hutton and Ryan McGregor the concept was initially formed by a desire to have an easily accessible webshop from which film themed items were sold. For the purposes of this fundraiser, t-shirts with the design, ‘I Support Women in Film’ are sold by the Haus of Film shop and there is now even a t-shirt wearing teddy bear as an addition!

I Support Women in Film t-shirt by Haus of Film

What sets this fundraiser apart is that a portion of the profits from the t-shirts will be utilised towards the crowdfunding campaign initiated by any female filmmaker worldwide. Haus of Film will announce on the various social media platforms the details of the various film projects that the donations will support.

Presently, as the fundraiser is within its early stages, there is only one film campaign for which donations have been pledged from a portion of the t-shirt sales; this is the film Mary-Alice: Chapter One. The relevant films to be involved in the fundraiser are located by the Haus of Film team through the various online crowdfunding campaigns.

As Nicole mentions, there is certainly that complaint of the lack of female representation within the film industry however the background to such lack of diversity is often due to the lack of funding received.

This project by Haus of Film will be an innovative way of supporting such female independent filmmakers from the outset! Nicole believes that one way to support female filmmakers completely, rather than merely commenting about the lack of diversity, is to assist with the financial support and that by donating through a t-shirt purchase, the purchaser is also raising awareness of the issue.

The t-shirts may also be the ideal gift for that cinephile in your life and they are available in a range of sizes and colours. Furthermore, the fabrics used for the creation of the t-shirts are sustainable and eco-friendly by use of eco-friendly ink and the use of low impact raw materials. The fundraising target is ongoing and so there will be many films to support in the future!