At the Cannes Film Festival last week, Women and Hollywood’s founder and publisher Melissa Silverstein sat down with Francine Raveney of the European Women’s Audiovisual Network and a Elsa Keslassy from Variety for one of Kering’s Women in Motion panels. This talk, called “Show Us the Money,” addressed such important issues as the lack of funding for female-directed films, the gender imbalance in Hollywood, and some positive things to look forward to, such as Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman.”

Raveney and her group conducted the first pan-European study on the situation of female filmmakers in seven European countries. The study, titled “Where are the Women Directors?”, showed that the lack of women in the industry is caused by extreme inaccessibility to funding. Higher-budget films are almost always directed by men because there is “a total distrust of female directors in delivering films of higher budgets,” she said. “It’s really about empowering women in the industry so they feel strengthened.”

Silverstein, who co-founded the Athena Film Festival, a celebration of women and leadership, added the fact that the role of film director is typically associated with conventionally masculine, or male, traits. “We need to change the definition of what leadership is so we can have more people understand that women can lead in the same way as men,” she urged. “We’re half of humanity. Our stories matter.”

She also stressed the importance of buying tickets to films made by women: “It’s like voting with your dollars, if you don’t support women, that’s going to have an effect on women being able to continue in the marketplace.”

For more highlights from the chat, including some astounding statistics and advice for up-and-coming filmmakers, watch the clip below.

Please note- Silverstein mentions that Patty Jenkins is the first woman to receive $100 million to direct a live-action film. That is incorrect. Kathryn Bigelow had $100m for “K-19 The Widowmaker.”