Weinstein scandal hot topic at St. John's women's film festival

The Harvey Weinsteinscandal will be a big topic of conversation as one of the world's longest-running women's film festivals gets underway in St. John's Wednesday night.

"I do expect that it will be a huge conversation, but I think that the St. John's International Women's Film Festival is a place where women can get away from that too," said program coordinator Nicole Boggan.

The festival, now in its 28th year, opens with local filmSuck it Up by Jordan Canning.

"We strive to have events that are women-focused and facilitate opportunities for women to ... advance their careers," Boggan told the St. John's Morning Show, adding that the festival has spent years workingon a "safer space" policy.

"Any kind of harassment based on any kind of any identity you might have LGTBor whatever is not tolerated at this festival."

'Terrible to everybody'

Still, Boggan and actor Erin Mick acknowledge that many women working in film have had experiences similar tothe assault and harassment allegations being made against the Hollywood mogul.

HarveyWeinsteinand people like him aren't just terrible to women.- Erin Mick

"In my whole life as a female actor I've had to face people giving me advice on how to be careful and how to protect myself, when really we should be focusing on not letting these people into the industry in the first place," said Mick, who isworking on her master's degreeat Memorial University.

"HarveyWeinsteinand people like him aren't just terrible to women, they're terrible to everybody," she said.

There are also lots of others in the film industry, she added,"who are kind and generous and care only about movies and about taking care of people and they get stepped on by people like HarveyWeinsteinall the time."

Cool guests, amazing forums

The five-day festival continues until Sunday.

Besides the opening film, Boggan and Mick are excited to take part inworkshops and hear the panels.

The festival defies the notion that films by women are "special or different," Mick said.

"[It]just shows you that women are making great films and women deserve to be seen. And it's always a lot of fun, and there's always really cool guests. And the forums are amazing and I love going to the festival as both a viewer and someone in the industry. It's awesome."

Check here for a schedule of what's on duringthe 2017 festival.