A group of Alberta women are trying to change the fact that women are massively outnumbered both in front and behind the camera on film sets.

Girls in Film and Television (GIFT) is a program started by Camille Beaudoin and her coworkers in Edmonton and the goal is to get girls in to the movie industry.

“Representation of women and girls in film and television is really low. Women are very unrepresented, and they’re also portrayed with much more stereotypes, less careers. They’re often portrayed in more sexual ways,” Beaudoin said.

The main intention behind GIFT is to inspire young girls to get behind the camera and direct future movies and shows to ensure better representation.

According to the GIFT website, men outnumber women behind the camera with a five to one ratio. Women only account for seven per cent of directors and five per cent of cinematographers.

“There’s a direct correlation between women behind the camera and what happens on screen,” Beaudoin added.

In movies with at least one female writer, there is often 50 per cent more female characters on screen. In movies directed by men, only 20 per cent of the movies had a female protagonist.

“It shows that women and girls don’t have the right to take up as much space and to do the same things as men do.”

GIFT is making big strides to change these numbers. The program has run in Edmonton with great success and came to Lethbridge from Sept. 21 to 23.

The participating girls are 12 to 19-years-old and learn skills to take their short film from the writing room to the screen over the weekend.

“It was a really cool experience to get to know people who have the same kind of interests and ideas as me. Being able to collaborate on something that we’re all interested in was really nice. I feel like we really connected,” said Jessica Syratt, a local 19-year-old who participated.

The girls will reunite this coming weekend to work on editing their films, and will screen them on Sept.29.