#11 TFI Specials | Gender Balance. What is the state of play for made in Piemonte audiovisuals?
Gennaio 2026
Film Commission Torino Piemonte publishes the first gender analysis of the Production guide.
Download the report (ITA): Gender Balance. A che punto è l’audiovisivo made in Piemonte?
On 8 November 2025, “Professioniste dell’audiovisivo: un’istantanea Contemporanea” took place, the first meeting “branded” TFI Torino Film Industry 8 Extended, a series of events that preceded and followed the busy schedule of the central days of TFI Torino Film Industry (20-25 November 2025, in conjunction and collaboration with the Torino Film Festival), marking an even stronger synergy with other festivals and events in the region and building an increasingly vibrant Factory-Market-Meeting for development, international co-production, and the promotion of new talent and new trends in contemporary cinema and audiovisual media.
Promoted by Film Commission Torino Piemonte in collaboration with Contemporanea Film Festival, the panel entitled “Professioniste dell’audiovisivo: un’istantanea Contemporanea” was conceived and designed as an event of national importance, eight months after 8 March, dedicated to the status of women professionals in the film and audiovisual industry. For the occasion, all the experiences of local and national value were brought together with the live presence of representatives from Rete Cinema Piemonte, Women in Film, Television & Media Italia, Mujeres nel Cinema and DiversityLab, to take a snapshot of the sector with them and analyse, based on data and figures, the dynamics that hinder gender equality.
On this occasion, in addition to promoting and hosting the event, Film Commission Torino Piemonte presented the first gender analysis of its Production guide, fitting into a national and European framework that increasingly emphasises the importance of data collection to fill an analysis gap. This data is essential for identifying the conditions from which to develop 'targeted policies aimed at reducing gender imbalance and discrimination', as highlighted in its first (and so far only) annual report for 2022 by the Ministry of Culture's Observatory for Gender Equality.
In 2024, Eurimages, the Council of Europe's support fund for the co-production, distribution, exhibition and digitisation of European cinematographic works, also included among the objectives of its first integrated strategy for gender equality, diversity and inclusion for the three-year period 2025-2027 the intention to continue and promote data monitoring, together with encouraging the sharing of research results (Point 4: Data collection and research on gender and diversity, providing the basis for measuring inequalities and progress achieved).
Today, Film Commission Torino Piemonte, which, as part of the publication of its Social Report in line with the UN 2030 Agenda, has also included Sustainable Development Goal Gender equality (5) among those adhering to its mission, publishes the first gender analysis of its Production guide, part of the website dedicated to the presentation of all companies, institutions and professionals in Torino and Piemonte, with the aim of creating a dynamic monitoring tool designed to transform statistical data into a tool for qualitative research and institutional intervention.
The Production guide of Film Commission Torino Piemonte is a database that allows users to identify professionals residing in Piemonte who work in the field of cinema and audiovisual media. During 2024, the guide was updated according to more precise and accurate criteria, making it a more reliable tool for collecting and searching for information on the various professionals operating in the region. In particular, the requirements for inclusion in the guide have been changed and updated. In addition to the necessary residence in Piemonte, professionals must now have participated in at least three projects in the three years prior to the date of registration in a specific professional role (main profession).
To carry out the survey, a binary survey methodology based on nominal attribution was adopted, and attention was paid both to mapping accredited professionals and to exploring the Beginners section of the guide (all data is updated as of 31 December 2025).
Left to right: Chiara Borroni (Università di Torino), Laura Bolognino (Rete Cinema Piemonte), Fernanda Selvaggi (Rete Cinema Piemonte), Domizia De Rosa (Women in Film, Television & Media Italia), Karen Feier Ricci (Diversity Lab), Giulia Rosa D’Amico (Mujeres nel Cinema), Barbara Salerno (Fistel - Cisl)
The analysis reveals a picture of persistent structural imbalance in the Professionals section: the guide presents a total of 450 audiovisual professionals, divided into 93 professions across 17 departments. Of these, 246 people indicate a first and second profession, for a total of 696 professions registered throughout the guide. As was the case for the meeting on 8 November, the analysis chooses to examine the total number of professions in order to provide the most complete picture of the work of audiovisual professionals in the area, including their different skills, rather than looking only at the “heads”. Of these 696 professions, 258 are roles filled by women, compared to 438 filled by men, for a percentage of 37% female presence compared to 63% male presence in the entire guide.
The gap widens critically in senior and technical roles, with particularly low percentages of female presence in the fields of editing (5%), cinematography (7%) and directing (14%), and a total absence in the fields of sound and music. These figures are often below the national average, highlighting a professional segregation that confines the majority of female workers to departments traditionally considered female, such as costumes (100%), make-up (89%) and set design (80%). On the contrary, areas such as screenwriting and location management show a more marked trend towards gender balance.
In 2024, Film Commission Torino Piemonte launched Italy's first Beginners guide, a database that allows users to identify individuals under the age of 35 who reside or are domiciled in Piemonte and who wish to join the network of film and audiovisual productions active in Piemonte and expand their experience on set. The section is promoted in collaboration with the main educational institutions in the Piemonte region. In terms of gender balance, this section represents an element of discontinuity and potential transformation: out of a total of 324 people registered in 13 departments (in this case, without any of the subcategories that detail the Professionals section), 178 are women and 146 are men, with a percentage of 55% female presence compared to 45% male presence. It is immediately apparent that, on the one hand, the is incredibly close to the 50:50 target, and on the other, the gender paradigm appears to be clearly reversed, also highlighting a significant increase in aspiring female professionals in historically male roles, such as directing (44%) and production (68%).
It is worth remembering that the Beginners Guide is a very new tool that sets some necessary barriers to access, which in turn lead to the plausible hypothesis that this guide also includes some people who are in the 'middle ground' between being a Beginner and being a Professional. It is to examine this possibility that we have chosen to focus further on the personal details of Beginners between the ages of 30 and 35, i.e. those born between 1995 and 1990. The analysis of these 52 people once again reverses the percentage (44% female versus 56% male) and also brings with it two particular pieces of data: on the one hand, the first and only net 50% recorded in this analysis stands out in the production department; on the other hand, the percentage of 14% returns for the directing department, as was the female presence in the top role in the Professionals section.
The research presented today is a starting point: monitoring is an essential requirement for transforming statistical data into a meaningful tool, capable of raising crucial questions about the actual work of female directors, the size of the budgets allocated and gender dynamics within crews. Questioning the differences between female-led and male-led productions, as well as the adoption of non-binary and inclusive analysis schemes, is a necessary step in defining institutional interventions that are widespread and effective.
The made in Piemonte audiovisual industry is a sector in continuous development, and the activities of Film Commission Torino Piemonte have the repeatedly stated objective of creating new artistic and professional opportunities, especially for young talents, identifying the Foundation as a national and international reference point for the cinema and audiovisual ecosystem. This initial research therefore becomes a further step towards the growth, refinement and improvement of the sector, using data not simply for reporting purposes, but as a solid strategic basis and springboard for concrete action for change.
Research carried out by Valentina Testa, between July and November 2025, and January 2026
We would like to thank the staff of Film Commission Torino Piemonte, in particular the Production Office in the persons of Francesca Barbagallo and Lucia Cannone, the consultant for the Production guide Valeria Lacarra, and Irene Prencipe for her collaboration in data analysis.