The 2019 Cannes Film Festival continues to disappoint. Last week it was announced that only four women-helmed films will screen in the fest’s main competition. Now, per Deadline, the Critics’ Week lineup has been revealed — and only one woman-directed film is among the seven feature competition titles. That amounts to 14 percent, a massive decrease from 2018’s 57 percent.
Critics’ Week is the Cannes sidebar spotlighting directors’ first and second films.
The sole woman-directed Critics’ Week Competition film is “Land of Ashes,” Sofía Quirós Ubeda’s feature directorial debut. Based on Quirós Ubeda’s short “Selva,” which was selected for Critics’ Week 2017, the pic centers on a 13-year-old girl who can shape shift into animals and other beings at will.
Critics’ Week’s Short Film Competition, thankfully, has a much better gender ratio. Six of the 10 selected projects are directed by women. Among them are Nada Riyadh’s tale of a disintegrating marriage, “The Trap,” and Valentina Maurel’s portrait of a teen who wants to lose her virginity and her lice, “Lucia En El Limbo.”
Two of Critics’ Week’s four Special Screenings, Features are from female filmmakers. Aude Léa Rapin’s “Heroes Don’t Die” follows a young man who suspects he might be the reincarnation of a soldier who died in Bosnia in 1983. Hafsia Herzi’s “Tu Mérites Un Amour” is about a couple who can’t seem to let one another go after their break-up.
Women helmed two of the five short films selected for the Special Screenings, Short Films, or 40 percent. They are “Demonic,” Pia Borg’s exploration of the Satanic Panic of the ’80s, and Cristèle Alves Meira’s “Invisible Hero,” which sees a blind man walking miles in the summer heat to track down a friend who has disappeared.
Critics’ Week will run May 15-23. Cannes itself will take place May 14-25.
All the women-directed films selected for Critics’ Week are below. List adapted from Deadline.
SPECIAL SCREENINGS, FEATURES
Heroes Don’t Die, dir: Aude Léa Rapin
Tu Mérites Un Amour, dir: Hafsia Herzi
SPECIAL SCREENINGS, SHORT FILMS
Demonic, dir: Pia Borg
Invisible Hero, dir: Cristèle Alves Meira
COMPETITION, FEATURES
Land Of Ashes, dir: Sofía Quirós Ubeda
COMPETITION, SHORT FILMS
Party Day, dir: Sofia Bost
The Trap, dir: Nada Riyadh
Journey Through A Body, dir: Camille Degeye
Lucia En El Limbo, dir: Valentina Maurel
The Manila Lover, dir: Johanna Pyykko
Tuesday From 8 To 6, dir: Cecilia de Arce
