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![\"MIKE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/4662091_web1_261023-Pam-Grier-0241-e1792792867621.jpg\")
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MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
Hollywood icon Pam Grier is in town as the keynote speaker at Canada\u2019s Supporting Women in Film Trades (SWIFT) conference being held on Saturday. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Or the one about meticulously rehearsing a scene in which she has to stealthily pull a gun in Quentin Tarantino\u2019s 1997 film Jackie Brown.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Tarantino) says, \u2018The minute I don\u2019t see the gun, we can do the scene.\u2019 Four hours later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those lucky enough to have snagged a spot at Film Training Manitoba\u2019s sold-out Supporting Women in Film Trades (SWIFT) conference Saturday will hear her tell some of them in person.<\/p>\n
The Hollywood legend known for playing such iconic, badass title women as Foxy Brown (1974), Coffy (1973) and Jackie Brown (1997) \u2014 and is roundly regarded as Hollywood\u2019s first female action star (who, by the way, did her own stunts) \u2014 will be delivering this year\u2019s keynote address.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s conference theme is Breaking Barriers, Building Careers, and few people represent that spirit better than Grier, 77.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen looking at the people who\u2019ve been registering, we did know that by getting someone from the BIPOC community \u2014 an iconic person within the film industry \u2014 we really recognize that it would help us expand who we\u2019re trying to bring and welcome to the industry because there\u2019s been lots of reports in the last year or so about there\u2019s a continued decline of women getting opportunities in the film industry,\u201d says Adam Smoluk, executive director of Film Training Manitoba.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Hollywood icon Pam Grier and Film Training Manitoba\u2019s executive director Adam Smoluk at the offices of Film Training Manitoba, Friday morning.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Grier made her own opportunities, blazing a trail from the women coming up behind her.<\/p>\n She became an icon of the 1970s Blaxploitation genre, playing strong, independent, tough-as-nails women who could empower other women \u2014 and, in particular, empower women to get out of abusive situations. That\u2019s why she disagrees when people say the genre is negative or promotes stereotypes.<\/p>\n \u201cBlaxploitation is about the black community being exploited by every known colour crook \u2014 and the women stopped it,\u201d she says, during a wide-ranging sit-down with the Free Press a day before the conference.<\/p>\n \u201cI stepped in and stopped it. My aunt, who was Foxy Brown, rode a Harley. All of us were taught by Daddy Ray (Grier\u2019s grandfather) to shoot their eyes out and protect yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to stories, Grier, unsurprisingly, has got opinions. Like, no, actually, life doesn\u2019t end at 40 if you\u2019re a woman \u2014 \u201cwe\u2019re hornier and our orgasms are three days longer\u201d \u2014 and women\u2019s bodies are sacred.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know there\u2019s a temple about us, but it\u2019s overlooked in society as recreation, as a gymnasium. And when you have that, then you\u2019re gonna have Cornell. You\u2019re gonna have Epstein.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019re trying to reach out to women, the industry has to actually evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n As her focus shifts to behind the camera as a director and producer, she also has strong beliefs on what modern sets should have in order to attract more women \u2014 including daycare.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s almost all female electric crews and camera crews now that I look for. Anybody show up, just show up. We have daycare on the set wherever our base camp is. You drop off your kids from one to five. \u2026 So on your way home, you pick them up and take them with you, so you can read a story, bed and bath, the whole thing \u2014 have a family.\u201d<\/p>\n That mirrors discussions that will be happening at the conference this weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019re trying to reach out to women, the industry has to actually evolve,\u201d Smoluk says.<\/p>\n jen.zoratti@winnipegfreepress.com<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Jen Zoratti Jen Zoratti is a columnist and feature writer working in the Arts & Life department, as well as the author of the weekly newsletter NEXT<\/a>. A National Newspaper Award finalist for arts and entertainment writing, Jen is a graduate of the Creative Communications program at RRC Polytech and was a music writer before joining the Free Press in 2013. Read more about Jen<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Jen produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2013 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n
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