Next Keep Festive Talk Set for March 10 at the Tricky Women Festival

Dr. Meike Lauggas will speak about #we-do!, an organization that provides contacts and counseling for filmmakers who have endured abuse of power, discrimination, sexual assault and labor law violations, organized by the Keep Festive collective working to help festival organizers prevent discrimination and harassment.

On March 10th, Dr. Meike Lauggas will speak at the 2023 Tricky Women Festival in Vienna about #we_do! an organization that provides contact and counselling for filmmakers in case of abuse of power and unequal treatment, discrimination, sexual assault and violations of labor laws. The talk has been organized by Keep Festive, an initiative that stands against sexual harassment and helps festivals organizers prevent any type of discrimination, from sexism to sexual harassment, to ensure that industry events remain fun.

#we_do! services are anonymous, free of charge, and confidential for everyone in the Austrian film and television industry. In addition to counselling and anonymous documentation of cases, various preventive measures are being developed and offered to contribute to structural change and improvement.

Launched in 2022 by a collective of international film festivals and distribution companies, Keep Festive continues its work developing a toolbox for international festivals and their attendees that will help prevent any form sexual abuse; a code of conduct that members can follow; and a training program for the festival team and volunteers to make their guests feel more comfortable and safe.

Keep Festive members are as following:

Tricky Women (Austria), Ottawa International Animation Festival (Canada), Kaboom Animation Festival (The Netherlands), Go Short - International Short Film Festival Nijmegen (Netherlands), Anifilm (Czech Republic), Animafest Zagreb (Croatia), Annecy International Animation Festival (France), Fest Anča (Slovakia), Anibar (Kosovo), Turku Animated Film Festival (Finland), Fantoche International Animation Film Festival (Switzerland), LINOLEUM Contemporary Animation and Media Art Festival (Ukraine), Viborg International Animation Festival (Denmark), Animest (Romania), Animateka (Slovenia), Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People (Greece), Miyu Distribution (France).

The first official Keep Festive lecture was held at the Animateka festival in December 2022. The talk, led by a psychologist, Matic Munc, covers a wide range of topics related to sexual behavior and has just been released on YouTube: