Brussels: 28 February 2022 – The International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), the European cinema trade grouping, has today announced that IMAX Corporation and Vista Group take on the role of principal sponsors of its flagship Women’s Cinema Leadership Programme, already in its fifth year. At the same time UNIC launched a call for mentors and mentees to take part in the next 2022-23 edition.
As joint sponsorship partners, Vista Group and IMAX will become ‘Champions of the Programme’, supporting UNIC’s mission to achieve a more diverse and inclusive cinema industry.
UNIC’s Women’s Cinema Leadership Programme aims to help address the gender gap amongst decision-making positions in the industry, giving talented, up-and-coming female professionals the opportunity to receive mentoring from top women executives.
Welcoming today’s announcement, UNIC CEO Laura Houlgatte commented:
“We are delighted to welcome IMAX and Vista Group as ‘Champions of UNIC Women’s Cinema Leadership Programme’. They share UNIC’s ambition to see more inclusion and diversity in the industry. This partnership will take the programme to the next level as we empower more female professionals to achieve leadership roles and realise their full potential. As alumni of the programme, we couldn’t have better ambassadors than Sarah Lewthwaite of Vista Group and Alessandra Pavan Bernacchi of IMAX. We are very grateful for their commitment.”
“We need a broader and more diverse group of people working at all levels across our industry, full stop. That’s why programs like Women’s Cinema Leadership are so critical to the future of cinema, both for those behind the camera, for executives in the business, and for audiences around the world who expect and deserve to experience unique stories from all creators,” said Megan Colligan, President of IMAX Entertainment.
“Having experienced first-hand the positive impact that the UNIC Women’s Cinema Leadership Programme has, I couldn’t be prouder for Vista Group to sponsor this next edition. While diversity of content can help drive box-office results, we believe that it’s greater diversity in our boardrooms that will create long-lasting success for our industry,” stated Sarah Lewthwaite, Chief Client Officer for Movio, a Vista Group company.
The 2022-23 programme runs for a year from June, following its launch at CineEurope. The deadline for applications is 30 March 2022. To find out more about being a mentor or mentee, please contact dstratan@unic-cinemas.org.