Representation-wise, Cannes 2019 has been a significant — albeit not unexpected — disappointment for women directors. Just a handful of women-helmed films have been selected for Competition, Critics’ Week Feature Competition, and Directors’ Fortnight. But there is a silver lining: following through on its adoption of the Gender Parity Pledge and its promise of greater transparency, Cannes has published the gender stats for the 2019 edition. Earlier this year it announced its selection committee for the first time, also in accordance with the pledge.
Most of the numbers are not a huge surprise, at least for anyone who has been paying attention to Cannes’ women problem. Twenty women directors have films as part of the Official Selection: four in Competition, eight in Un Certain Regard, three in Special Screenings, and five in the Short Films Competition. Forty-three male directors are included in the Official Selection. Overall 19 of the 69 films, features and shorts, in Official Selection are women-directed. This amounts to 27.5 percent.
Thirteen of the 25 Caméra d’Or directors are women, or 52 percent.
As for Cannes’ 2019 organizers, women account for 468 of the 974 team members, or 48 percent. There are two women jury presidents — Un Certain Regard’s Nadine Labaki and Short films and Cinéfondation’s Claire Denis — as well as two men. The film juries each have a 50/50 gender split, aside from Short films and Cinéfondation, which features three men and one woman.
For the first time, Cannes unveiled its number of festival submissions. Women directed 26 percent of the features submitted, 32 percent of submitted shorts, and 44 percent of student films submitted to the Cinéfondation.
According to the fest, these numbers suggest “that women’s presence is going to be more and more important in the future.” But it could also mean that, as women directors transition from student films to shorts to features, they are finding the industry less and less supportive, and are coming across fewer opportunities. In other words, women directors are out there, but are not receiving the same access and encouragement as their male counterparts.
Crunching the numbers is a good start, but if real gender parity will ever be a reality, more women need to submit films. And that means the industry — and Cannes — need to be more inclusive and welcoming.
Head over to Cannes’ website for all the 2019 numbers. The festival begins today, May 14, and runs through May 25.
