18/05/2024 - CANNES 2024: Overall, things have changed for the better, but women and non-binary professionals still need to claim more space as filmmakers and within major festivals’ teams

On 17 May, Cannes’ Marché du Film hosted a panel titled “Embracing Parity and Diversity in Film Festivals Worldwide”, moderated by Clémentine Charlemaine, co-president of Collectif 50/50 and general delegate for Cinéma pour tous.

Charlemaine handed the mic to Collectif 50/50 administrator Quentin Deleau Latournerie, who illustrated the organisation’s latest study on gender equality, which surveyed a total of 162 festivals. The gatherings involved signed the “pledge for gender equality and inclusion in cinema, audiovisual and animated-image festivals”. The initiative came about six years ago in Cannes, and saw the participation of reps from both the festival’s official selection and sidebars. Over time, it grew to its current size.

All of the festivals involved committed to collecting gender-based figures on the directors of both selected and submitted films as well as figures on festival teams, including selection committees, programming teams, directors and boards of directors. They also commit to achieving parity and to sharing their results publicly on a yearly basis.

Most of the surveyed festivals are European (including 87 events from France, seven from Ireland and six from Italy), but extra-European gatherings are also represented (notably, ten are based in the USA). “Besides, all of the major A-list festivals signed the pledge,” Deleau Latournerie underscored.

The surveyed festivals provided data on audiovisual works of any format, spanning features and shorts, as well as fiction, non-fiction, youth-orientated productions and animation. 92% of these screen international titles, 5% European films, and only 3% domestic pictures.

In terms of gender distribution within the artistic direction, 54% of these fests’ artistic directors are women, 3% are non-binary (interestingly, this figure stands at 10% in North America), and 43% are men. “If we only look at six major festivals – Berlin, Cannes, Locarno, Venice, Toronto and San Sebastián – we also have a 50/50 split,” said Deleau Latournerie.

In programming, women are even more present – 56% of the programmers are women, 39% are men, and 5% are non-binary. On the other hand, at major festivals, 64% are women and 36% men.

Looking at top management positions, there’s also a good gender balance (1% non-binary, 43% men and 56% women), except for at the six big fests (75% men, 25% women).

Within the boards of directors, 50% of the people in charge are men, 49% are women and 1% are non-binary. The six big fests have a 55/45 split, shared between men and women, respectively. Moreover, 52% of the chairs of the boards of directors are men, and 48% are women.

Coming up next is the gender breakdown of the films submitted in 2023. 57% are directed by one or several men, 37% by one or several women, 2% by one non-binary or several non-binary professionals, and 4% are co-directed by men, women and non-binary helmers. The shift between submitted and selected films is not that significant, as these figures stand at 53%, 38%, 2% and 6%, respectively. The 50/50 rep highlighted how a rather equal gender split between selected and submitted films may suggest a fair selection process, but also reminded those present how many women and non-binary filmmakers struggle to get “proper financing” and ultimately submit their work.

“Film festivals are a window to the world, and the films we see shape the collective imagination of our society. So, it’s crucial that film selections and the people who make these festivals happen represent the diversity of our society. As of today, this pledge only tackles one type of diversity, which is gender[-related], but of course, many other diversity-related matters are at stake,” Deleau Latournerie summed up.

A panel discussion followed, which saw the participation of director of programming, festival and cinematheque at the Toronto International Film Festival Robyn Citizen and Busan International Film Festival programmer Sungho Park.