The 2017 Cannes Film Festival kicks off this Wednesday, May 17. While the high-profile fest is still nowhere near overall gender parity, the number of women directors has increased slightly from the 2016 edition. Women and Hollywood has provided a full account of the female directors included in each category in our annual Cannes infographic.
Women directed 16 percent of the Main Competition films this year — about the same as 2016’s 14 percent. Un Certain Regard includes 28 percent women-helmed films, which marks a six percent increase from last year. Most impressive is the Directors’ Fortnight category. Female filmmakers helmed 35 percent of its offerings, a whopping 13 percent increase from 2016. Cannes definitely isn’t perfect, but its number of women helmers is slowly going in the right direction.
Check out our Cannes infographic below (and feel free to share). If you are attending the fest, please seek out as many women-helmed projects as you can and support female filmmakers.