COVID-19 put the brakes on the 73rd edition of Cannes Film Festival, but the fest has decided to announce its 2020 program allowing films to append the moniker “Official Section of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival.” Initial reports claimed that a record number of films directed by women were included in this year’s Official Selection. Fifty-six titles were set to screen, and Cannes indicated that the program featured 16 women filmmakers. Films helmed by women were said to account for 28.5 percent of the lineup, an all-time high for the fest. But Cannes got the numbers wrong.
When we tallied the number of women directors in the festival program, we came up with 13 — three names short of what Cannes announced. The real percentage of women-directed films is 23.2 percent, which is not a historic high for the fest.
Cannes is amending their announcement.
Films that made the cut included Naomi Kawase’s “True Mothers” and Maïwenn’s “DNA.” The former follows a couple who get a threatening call from a woman claiming to be the biological mother of their adopted child, and the latter tells the story of a woman who experiences an identity crisis after her grandfather dies. Ayten Amin’s “Souad,” a portrait of a woman seeking answers after her younger sister commits suicide, was also set to screen.
Cannes has a deservedly bad rep when it comes to female filmmakers. While other fests have made great strides towards curating more inclusive programs, Cannes has been lagging behind, and Jane Campion remains the only woman director to ever win the Palme D’Or, the fest’s most prestigious prize. In 2018 Cannes signed a gender parity pledge agreeing to compile statistics according to gender, including the number of films submitted; identify the members of selection committees and programmers; and make a commitment schedule to achieve parity on their board.
It’s important to note that Cannes did not specify which categories this year’s films fall into. The controversies surrounding the fest’s lack of women-directed offerings have focused on its most high profile program, the main Competition. Those are the titles competing for the Palme D’Or. In other words, we have no idea how many films directed by women would have been contenders for the fest’s top prize this year.
According to Deadline, just two of the directors included in the program are Black. They are both men. Last year Mati Diop made history as the first Black woman director to screen a feature film in Competition at Cannes. She screened “Atlantics,” a supernatural star-crossed love story told against the backdrop of the migration crisis. The drama took home the fest’s Grand Prix.
Check out the 13 films directed or co-directed by women in Cannes’ 2020 Official Selection below.
- True Mothers, Naomi Kawase (Japan)
- DNA, Maïwenn (Algeria, France)
- Souad, Ayten Amin (Egypt)
- Passion Simple, Danielle Arbid (Lebanon)
- A Good Man, Marie-Castille Mention Schaar (France)
- Septet: The Story Of Hong Kong, Ann Hui, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Ringo Lam, Patrick Tam, Johnnie To, Hark Tsui, John Woo, Woo-Ping Yuen (Hong Kong)
- Pleasure, Ninja Thyberg (Sweden)
- Slalom, Charlène Favier (France)
- Beginning, Déa Kulumbegashvili (Georgia)
- Gagarine – Fanny Liatard, Jérémy Trouilh (France)
- 16 Printemps, Suzanne Lindon (France)
- Should The Wind Fall, Nora Martirosyan (Armenia)
- Cévennes, Caroline Vignal (France)
