Yet another major festival is set to sign a gender parity pledge. Following the lead of Cannes, Venice, TIFF, and IDFA, among others, Spain’s San Sebastian Festival is expected to sign the pledge on Sunday, Variety reports.
Introduced at Cannes earlier this year, the 5050×2020 Pledge is a way to hold fests accountable as they work towards full gender parity. By signing the document, festival signatories promise to gather stats according to the filmmakers’ gender, identify the fest members who select films to screen, and develop a schedule to achieve equality on the festival board.
Fest director José Luis Rebordinos will sign the Charter for Parity and Inclusion of Women in Cinema alongside “Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo; the minister of culture and sport, José Guirao; the president of the festival’s board of directors and mayor of San Sebastian, Eneko Goia; and the president of Spain’s Assn. of Women Cineastes (CIMA), Cristina Andreu. CIMA vice-president Virginia Yagüe will host the ceremony,” the source confirms.
While Rebordinos has been outspoken in his opposition to quotas for female directors, the source notes that “in some areas of the festival, parity for women has already been achieved or surpassed: 28 of the festival’s 34 permanent employees are women, as are four of its seven board members, according to Rebordinos. Also, eight out of the nine permanent departments of the festival are run by women.”
“We support ways for more women’s films to get made,” Rebordinos said.
According to Variety, women helmed five of the 18 films screening in competition at San Sebastian’s upcoming 66th edition, and 34 percent of the titles in the biggest sections: main competition, New Directors, Horizontes Latinos, the Forum, and Films in Progress.
Among the tiles screening are Lila Avilés’ “The Chambermaid,” a portrait of a single mother working as a maid in Mexico City, and Natalia Meschaninova’s “Core of the World,” a drama about a lonely man who works as a vet and dreams of becoming part of his boss’ family.
San Sebastian Film Festival runs from September 21 to September 29.
