This weekend 82 women ascended the steps of the Palais de Festival in Cannes to raise awareness around the fest’s history of excluding women directors. Since Cannes kicked off in 1946 only 82 women — compared to 1,688 men — have had films screen in competition.
Unfortunately, as the collective 5050by2020 has revealed, the lack of women competing for the Palme d’Or isn’t the end of Cannes’ institutional sexism. 5050by2020 released a study examining the specifics of the fest’s gender gap, including the amount of female directors as well as the number of women Jury Presidents and festival heads — and the results are staggering. Obviously we knew Cannes has a women problem, but seeing the 70 years’ worth of stats throws the fest’s issues into much starker relief.
Women have directed just five percent of Cannes’ Competition films since the festival’s beginning. (Only three Competition films are from women this year.) Three female directors, or four percent, have taken home the Grand Prix award — Márta Mészáros, Naomi Kawase, and Alice Rohrwacher — and Jane Campion is the only woman helmer to ever win the Palme d’Or.
Cannes has a pattern of shutting out women in other roles, too. Just twelve women, including Cate Blanchett, Campion, and Isabelle Huppert, have presided over the main Jury, as opposed to 59 men. None of Cannes’ current festival leadership (i.e. the artistic director, the general delegate, etc.) are women.
Let’s hope 5050by2020’s study — and the recent protest it organized alongside Le Deuxieme Regard — finally lights a fire under Cannes Film Festival. The numbers don’t lie: Cannes is as much of a boys’ club now as it was in 1946. It’s time the men heading up the fest pay attention to the stats and the 82 women who took to the Palais de Festival steps and figure out a way to bring more women into the fold.
Head over to 5050by2020’s website to check out the full study.