Recently our Culture & EDI Senior Manager, Dee Kerai, enjoyed a visit to Film School Fest Munich. He spoke at the event’s panel that explored how film schools can become more diverse and accessible in a sustainable way. Known for being very direct with his approach to this topic, Dee took part alongside co-panellists, Fatih Abay, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at European Film Academy and Jakob Høgel, Head of Education and Research at National Film School of Denmark.
The panellists discussed how to create accountability within areas surrounding personal identity and pronouns which can be embedded into company values and policies. Dee expressed the importance of addressing certain damaging behaviours in a way that can be tracked. They discussed how to create new structures to challenge the non-inclusive systems and what needs to be changed on a ground level while respecting how other countries operate culturally.
“The importance of setting standards that challenge and change systemic structures is vital to every school. Equity can only be addressed if we are able to look at our processes honestly and understand how some structures only support certain demographics”. – Dee Kerai, Culture & EDI Senior Manager
Dee and his fellow panellists discussed the challenges of setting general standards across Europe, taking into consideration cultural nuances, and understanding the difficulties of language restrictions. It was agreed that each country will have a more bespoke approach to social sustainability in a way that works best for that particular part of the world.
Dee was pleased to receive a lot of positive engagement after the talk from guests who approached him to discuss how they can incorporate various processes and improve the institutions they’re a part of. He enjoyed plenty of networking with other industry professionals, short film screenings and awards ceremonies along with an exciting closing party.
“Taking part in the panel was an opportunity to share a space with people who want to change the landscape to be more inclusive. Being able to discuss the uncomfortable in this forum, is a step in making positive change”. – Dee Kerai, Culture & EDI Senior Manager
Photography credit: Ronny Heine @stanleyreagh