On Saturday evening at the Cannes Film Festival I was one of 82 women who climbed the steps of the Palais de Festival — the most prestigious screening room in the world — as a participant in a historic march to protest the lack of women-directed films in competition at the festival. The number 82 symbolizes the 82 women who have walked the steps as directors with films in the competition compared to the 1,688 men.
Photo from Red Carpet
If you follow the work of Women and Hollywood you will know that we have been agitating for years now about the lack of female filmmakers here in Cannes. We spend an outsized amount of effort on this festival because it is a leader in the industry. Their lack of women is appalling. For years there has been no movement on this issue, but in the wake of the reckoning that is going on in the industry, this festival could no longer afford to keep its head in the sand.
A group of women from Le Deuxieme Regard and a new initiative 5050by2020, worked directly with the festival to create some type of moment to acknowledge these statistics. So the 82 women march was created. I was honored to be included with this group. I was the only journalist/activist to be a part of it.
We had to meet in a designated location to get in official cars. I got to ride with the great French director Céline Sciamma, which made my day. We were dropped off and entered the bowels of the Palais where the group gathered. Most were French women in the industry who knew each other and were greeting each other with great joy. I managed to see Kristen Stewart, who was all business. I was able to spend a moment with Ava DuVernay, who is on the jury along with Stewart. I just watched as Cate Blanchett greeted Agnès Varda with such reverence and they plotted the speeches that would be said on the carpet.
We were called out and joined together and walked the carpet. This is not something that I have ever done before — something I probably won’t ever do again. If you watch this video on YouTube (start at 11 minutes in) you can see the commentators talking about the significance of this moment. While it was happening it felt very surreal.
This was a historic moment. But let’s remember and remind the folks at this festival and others: this is not the end. This is the beginning. This is the moment that this festival, which has marginalized women for so long, joins with the world to be a part of the change.
We will be watching and we will keep pushing. I was honored to be a part of this historic night. This showed how far we have come, but we still have so far to go. Onward.
