Cannes’ Competition lineup remains sorely lacking in women-directed films, but the Jury ruling over the fest’s most high-profile program is decidedly more inclusive. As previously announced, Cate Blanchett will serve as President. The fest just revealed that the two-time Oscar winner’s jury will include nine members, five of whom are women (counting Blanchett): “Personal Shopper” star Kristen Stewart, “A Wrinkle in Time” director Ava DuVernay, “Blue Is the Warmest Color” actress Léa Seydoux, and Burundian singer-songwriter and composer Khadja Nin.
Of 18 films announced in the main Competition this year, just three are women-directed: Alice Rohrwacher’s “Lazzaro Felice,” a drama about a man who travels through time, Nadine Labaki’s “Capernaum,” a politically-charged fable about a child who launches a lawsuit, and Eva Husson’s “Girls of the Sun,” a drama following a Kurdish female battalion.
Last year’s nine-person Jury included four women: “Molly’s Game” star Jessica Chastain, “Toni Erdmann” writer-director Maren Ade, “X-Men: Days of Future Past” actress Fan Bingbing, and “The Easy Way Out” helmer and actress Agnès Jaoui. But the fest’s Competition numbers in 2017 were frustratingly similar to this year’s, with only three out of 19 films helmed by women.
Chastain made headlines at last year’s fest when she spoke out about the Competition’s programming. “This is the first time I watched 20 films in 10 days, and what I really took away from this experience is how the world views women,” she said. “It was quite disturbing to me, to be honest. There were quite some exceptions. I was surprised by the representation of female characters on film.” She also offered a solution: “I think if we include more female storytellers, I hope we have more women that I see in my own day-to-day life. They just don’t react to the men around them. They have their own point-of-view,” she explained.
DuVernay retweeted a video of Chastain’s public critique, and given that the “Selma” helmer is an outspoken advocate of a more inclusive film industry, it seems likely that she’ll have lots of interesting things to say at Cannes as well.
Cannes runs from May 8–19.
