A group of Australian filmmakers and a cast of women of every race, age and size have joined forces to shoot a new female empowerment video called No Means.
The Me Too and Time’s Up movements have put women’s rights in the forefront of the press. This new video produced and written by Gold Coast filmmaker Shirley Pierce sees real women give their voices to what ‘no’ means. “What’s new about our take on the subject is that it has everyday women speaking truth to power about what women have to deal with every day,” says Shirley. “Everything from being shamed and devalued sexually to living in a world where our needs are belittled and defunded and our images airbrushed.”
Shirley’s vision for No Means is to empower women and boost their resilience through self-respect and unity. She has written for the ABC and Nine Network, and worked at Disney, MGM and Sony with stars such as Cuba Gooding, Judi Dench and Julie Andrews. Shirley also co-produced the anti-bullying music video Free You Be You, a Heart of Gold Film Festival Awards nominee.
To help bring meaningful change in the conversation, the No Means team is working to encourage schools and workplaces to screen the video for its students and employees in order to facilitate a dialogue among these groups about what ‘no’ means. “The goal of doing the video is to reach as many people as possible with its message of clarity for both men and women,” says Shirley. “It would be beyond our wildest dreams, if it is shared by those touched by its heartfelt message and it goes viral.”
The video can be viewed online as well as on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
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