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In The Weeds

Posted: 07 Jul 2017 10:15 AM PDT

When her roommate becomes the victim of a violent attack, Sloane can no longer put up with the sexism that she encounters regularly at work.

Creative team

Writer/director: Joy Webster
Producers: Joy Webster, Lucas Ford

Filmmaker’s statement

When I was 17, I started working as a hostess in a popular bar-and-grill type restaurant. In my first few days on the new job I had multiple male co-workers tell me they couldn’t wait for my 18th birthday so that they could “finally talk to me.”

I had a manager comment on my “nice dancer’s legs” and tell me that my skirt wasn’t allowed to fall below my fingertips when my arms were lowered. It was mandatory to wear heels and, yes, lots of makeup.

And those were just the comments from the restaurant staff, the patrons were a whole other story. It was during one of these restaurant shifts that I got a call from my closest friend, a call that I will never forget.

This film is based on true events.

Sexism, exploitation and violence against women are things that every society functions around. Every day, women everywhere live with a feeling of vulnerability – to physical attacks, verbal harassment, and psychological and emotional degradation.

What may seem to a man like a harmless joke, or even a compliment, can perpetuate the systematic misogyny that fuels so many of the violent attacks against women. No matter how progressive a society claims to be, it is a fact that women are still fighting for their lives – everywhere. On the street, in the home or in the workplace – it’s an ongoing battle.

Yet, I am amazed every day by the strength of women. By our courage, our love and support for one another, and by our resilience to keep fighting. I have come to understand that In The Weeds is not just a film that I wanted to make, but a film that I needed to make as a 20-year-old with a lot of anxiety, guilt, frustration and anger.

It is a film about friendship and love, guilt and regret, self-control and self-respect, but most of all about the support and strength between two young women trying to find their way in the world.

About Joy Webster

Joy Webster is an emerging film director based in Toronto, Ontario.

A recent graduate of Ryerson University’s film studies program, her thesis film, In The Weeds, won the Norman Jewison Award for best fourth year film production in 2015. The film went on to become a selection at numerous film festivals in Canada and the United States, and was broadcast on CBC national television as part of their Canadian Reflections program in October 2016.

Her latest short film, Game, was completed in April 2017. Joy received both a Toronto Arts Council and Ontario Arts Council grant to help fund the film.

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