Vision Splendid film honour for Margaret Pomeranz

Initiated in 2015, Margaret, one of the guests of honour at the fourth annual Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival, joins festival patron and well-known actor Roy Billing and director Ivan Sen in being recorded for posterity on the footpath beside Winton’s open-air Royal Theatre.

It was an especially fitting tribute as the festival is this year dedicated to honouring women in film.

Margaret and director Sally Aitkin both spoke on the opening night before the powerful documentary on Margaret’s fellow film critic, David Stratton, sharing his love of Australian film was screened.

As Margaret said, David Stratton: A Cinematic Life, directed by Sally Aitkin, was a wonderful celebration of the Australian film industry.

At Saturday morning’s Breakfast with the Stars, Sally told the audience that women “punched above their weight” both in Australia and globally.

“Role modelling is important – if you see it, you believe it and you go for it,” she said, adding that a number of men had valued the contribution of women in the industry and made space for them.

“You limit the amount of stories you can tell otherwise,” she said.

It was a topic touched on by the festival’s creative director, Greg Dolgopolov.

Speaking before an audience that included 60 film students from China and India as well as from Australia, Greg said he hoped initiatives such as this, to highlight the role of women in film, would encourage more to work in the industry.

In his down to earth way, Winton mayor Butch Lenton agreed, saying “half us blokes wouldn’t be what we are without the women in our lives”, to loud acclaim.

“It’s a great thing to have a festival about,” he said, adding that the festival concept was now part of Winton’s history.

Unlike previous years, there has been no political presence at the Vision Splendid film festival this year.