"Men like depth in women, but only in their cleavage," wrote a group of angry female filmmakers today in a letter to leading French newspaper Le Monde. The reason for their wrath? Not a single woman is represented in this year's competition line-ups for Best Film or Best Director, as 22 men compete for the top awards.
Selection committee leader Thierry Fremaux has defended the festival's choices, arguing that the problem stems from a general shortage of women in the industry - if there are fewer women making films, there will be fewer making award-worthy ones. But a look at the proportion of directors who are female suggests something is still amiss. In all its history, the Palme D'Or has only once been awarded to a female director: Jane Campion, for The Piano.
As the letter-writers note, there are plenty of high profile women at the festival, but their role is primarily to introduce men or look pretty on their arms - "Women come to Cannes to show their charms, men to show their films." They stress their concern about the message this sends to young girls who might otherwise be tempted by careers in filmmaking.
