A group of 82 women will silently take a stand at the film festival. It’s 2018 and women in Hollywood have had enough. After the…
A group of 82 women will silently take a stand at the film festival.
It’s 2018 and women in Hollywood have had enough.
After the Harvey Weinstein scandal ushered in the powerful #MeToo and #TimesUp movements in the industry, a handful of A-list actresses and directors are taking a step further by using one of the most prominent film festivals to fight for gender equity.
According to the “50/50 by 2020” initiative, 96 percent of directors are men, 87 percent are white, and 81 percent of studio board members are men. The movement aims to address these glaring imbalances in the industry and to correct other issues in Hollywood, like the lack of roles for women of color and disabled actors.
As depressing as the lack of women in power is when it comes to Hollywood, the Cannes Festival, in particular, has a dismal track record when it comes to celebrating the achievements of female filmmakers. Only 4.3 percent of competition films were directed by women over the course of the festival’s first 71 years and only one female filmmaker has won the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or. The festival has also come under scrutiny for its archaic dress code when it comes to its female attendees. Stewart made headlines at last year’s gathering after calling attention to the rule that stated women were required to wear heels to film premieres during the festival.
Hopefully, this protest will help to initiate change, not just at Cannes, but industry-wide.
