#GAReads | The Data That Reveals the Film Industry's 'Woman Problem'
photo credit: Gage Skidmore [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
"The Data That Reveals the Film Industry's 'Woman Problem'":
The most prestigious and grandest of film festivals, which celebrates its 71st year this week, is showing it has taken criticisms on board with a diverse, gender-balanced jury of four men and five women, including Cate Blanchett, who is president, Twilight Saga star Kristen Stewart and French actress Léa Seydoux. (Seydoux has the unusual distinction of having won a Palme d’Or as a non-director for her role in Blue is the Warmest Colour, sharing the prize with co-star Adèle Exarchopoulos and director Abdellatif Kechiche in 2013.)
When it comes to the films, though, things don’t look so equal. Three out of 21 directors in the running for the 2018 Palme d’Or are female: Eva Husson for Girls of the Sun, Nadine Labaki for Capernaum, and Alice Rohrwacher for Lazzaro Felice. Let’s say that again: three out of 21. Men outnumber women six to one.