08/11/2025
It’s almost 10 years since Darlington became my home. When moving here, I was determined to continue my mission of Rianne Pictures to champion gender equality in film through building spaces, opportunities and a growing community for women in the North.
Over the years, that mission has deepened in ways I could never have predicted, despite so much negativity at the start that there “would be no interest” and “a womens festival outside london would never work” and that I should just carry on with London based activity. So it felt incredible to be nominated at this year’s Darlington Stronger Communities Awards for Contribution to the Arts, a real testament to the work we do here in our town, and region.
A complimentary moment to recently being internationally recognised as one of the top 100 best reviewed film festivals out of 14,000 on Filmfreeway.
Building a community takes a lot of work, commitment, listening, compassion, patience and integrity. I feel that the loveliest of film festivals do this, bringing people together to explore and celebrate stories and art in times that we desperately need connection and hope.
With discrimination, segregation and fear being spread across our lives by those who wish to divide us for their own gain, it can often be hard to find that hope. Losing ourselves in the horrors that we see in this world, and carry heavy hearts for all the pain we feel.
I hope we can continue to build strong communities together through the art that we make, the rights we fight for, the people who deserve our support and need our voices.
It also felt very special to celebrate the evening with filmmakers that we have developed through our Evolve writers programme, Alumni from our film festival and directors that we are supporting through our production house. I continue to be in awe of Chess, Emma, Kate and Natalia.
I am so proud to serve both our Darlington community and our International community with our festival and the work that we do.
Caris x
