A panel of trailblazing Australian women in film took center stage for International Women’s Day in a panel held at the Brentwood home of Ambassador Jane Duke, Australian Consul-General to Los Angeles.

The predominantly female audience gathered on the residence’s front lawn, and director Unjoo Moon (I Am Woman) led a dynamic panel including actresses Rose Byrne (Physical, Bridesmaids), Danielle Macdonald (The Tourist, Unbelievable), Charmaine Bingwa (The Good Fight), and Oscar-nominated cinematographer, Ari Wegner (The Power of the Dog).

Moon started out reminding everyone that the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is #BreakThe Bias. As the IWD website states, “Whether deliberate or unconscious, bias makes it difficult for women to move ahead. Knowing that bias exists isn’t enough. Action is needed to level the playing field.”

Here are some of the take-aways from the lively discussion appropriately led by the director of the biopic about Australian performer Helen Reddy, who wrote the feminist anthem, “I Am Woman.”

Unjoo Moon: “I was about to fly to an international conference hosted by the UN as they were going to host a screening of my film, but then we got a stay-at-home order, and everyone knows what happened next. The conference was supposed to be a chance for women all over the world to discuss gender equality, and then what I saw over the next two years was just how disproportionately the pandemic affected women and women in the entertainment industry. It affected their work, their health, and especially their home duties, as many of us experienced.”

Rose Byrne: “It was bizarre when I did [2011 comedy hit film] Bridesmaids. I was so naive about people thinking women were funny and didn’t even know we were breaking stereotypes. People were like, ‘we can’t believe this is so funny, and it’s a bunch of women.’ I was like, ‘we’re not dolphins!’”

Charmaine Bingwa: “With women, it can feel like a double whammy if you’re from a minority group or if you don’t identify as hetero-normative as well [Bingwa is also black and openly gay]. But in terms of representation on screen, actors are probably just one link in the inclusion chain. We need directors and producers to select those people. We need financiers to see value in us and we need stories written by the underrepresented too.”

Danielle Macdonald: “It was very cool to come back to Australia [to make I Am Woman and the limited series The Tourist] and see how diverse the country has become with their content. It’s really fun to get roles where how you look isn’t even a part of the conversation but it’s also important to make films where you do address issues. Getting to do Patty Cake$ [2017 breakout film playing a New Jersey rapper] and Dumpling [2018 film in which she plays Jennifer Aniston’s daughter], were really special to me. Dumpling was so cathartic for my 16-year-old self who never got to have this conversation. All of a sudden, you do movies talking about body positivity and weight, and you find out people want to have that conversation.”

Ari Wegner “When you grow up in a small population in a niche industry, you have such direct access to the people that are above you and you can be quickly meeting amazing mentors and get noticed maybe decades before that would happen in another country.”

Moon ended the powerful conversation by asking each panelist to pass on advice on how women can become their own agents of change.

Danielle Macdonald: “I hate confrontation a lot, which is not always an easy thing in this industry, but I’ve begun starting to advocate for myself the same way I would for someone that I love. I just put myself in the category of someone that I would love and fight for and speak from that place.”

Ari Wegner: “Because we have the great privilege and responsibility of bearing children, women need to talk about how to help women with childcare if they are going to be better represented in our creative industries.”

Rose Byrne: “The one thing I wish I’d had coming up was more access to mentors. Hearing about Ari’s experience working with Jane Campion for a year, that makes me think whether you have an acting coach or just a friend who’s been around in the business longer than you, it’s a great thing to lean on.”

Charmaine Bingwa: “Trust your voice. I was recently on a big-budget film acting opposite a huge movie star and I felt a responsibility to tell this black female story in a way that was genuine. I followed my instincts and went to the director and screenwriter and asked to rewrite this scene and I don’t know where the gumption came from because I could easily have been fired, but they were like, ‘sure, do it!’”