I don’t know what Thierry Fremaux was smoking but whatever it was he should pass it around to other film festival programmers, because this year the Cannes Film Festival has four films by women in competition. Remember, last year there were NONE. While it is still nowhere near equal — 4 out of 19 for a still lousy 21% — it is way better than the big ZERO of last year.

It seems that Mr. Fremaux made a point in saying that this was the first time there were four female directors in the competition.

The women directed films are:
“Hanezu No Tsuki,” directed by Naomi Kawase
“Sleeping Beauty,” directed by Julia Leigh
“Polisse,” directed by Maiwenn
“We Need To Talk About Kevin,” directed by Lynne Ramsay

Jodie Foster will also be in town bringing in The Beaver out of the competition.

Almodovar, Malick, Ramsay and Von Trier Set For 2011 Cannes Film Festival Lineup (IndieWIRE)

Photo: Lynne Ramsay (director, We Need to Talk About Kevin)