Constructing an Open, Participatory Database on Gender (In)Equality in the Italian Film Industry: Methodological Challenges

Rosa Barotsi is a researcher and lecturer at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. She recently concluded a Marie SkłodowskaCurie Action at the Catholic University of Milan with the project CineAF: Women’s Films in Italy (1964-2015) on gender inequality in the Italian film industry. She received her PhD at the University of Cambridge in 2014. She has previously held a postdoctoral position at the ICI Berlin Institute of Cultural Inquiry, where she developed a project on Slow cinema and debt. Along with Clio Nicastro and Saima Akhtar, she co-founded the In Front of the Factory research collective in 2016. She is one of the coordinators of the Eurimages-funded joint project The Purple Meridians. Her research and curatorial work focuses on the intersections between film, gender and work, with an emphasis on Italian and Greek cinema.

Mariagrazia Fanchi is full professor in Film and Media Studies at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan, where she is also head of the Postgraduate School of Media, Communication and Arts. Her field of research is focused on cinema and media audiences, gender, and cultural and creative industries analyzed in historical and synchronic perspectives. Since 2019, she has been directing the impact assessment of public funding for cinema and audiovisuals on behalf of the Italian Ministry of Culture. Among her most recent publications are: “Has Digital Transformation Impacted Gender Imbalance in Italian Cinema? A Data Analysis of Creative Clusters 2004-2016” (with M. Tarantino), “Feminine Spectrum: Notes for a History of Italian Women at the Movies” (2019), “For Many but Not for All: Italian Film History and the Circumstantial Value of Audience Studies” (2019), “Donne e reti creative nel cinema italiano (2004-2016)” (2019).

Matteo Tarantino is assistant professor at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan, where he lectures on the sociology of digital technologies. His research interests focus on the intersection between data, society, and culture. Among his most recent publications are: “Navigating the Green Data-scape: Some Challenges in Automating Environmental Data Procurement for Disclosure Efforts in China” (2019), “Uncertainty in the Air: Communicating Urban Air Pollution” (2019), and Il tecno dragone. L’immaginario tecnologico cinese ieri, oggi e domani (2020).