UPDATED ON APRIL 22, 2024: With the addition of two new movies to this yr’s competitors part, each directed by males, this yr’s competitors slate now consists of 21 movies, solely 4 of that are directed by ladies. That tallies to only 19 % of this yr’s competitors titles being helmed by ladies.
Our unique story from April 11, 2024 follows.
Sizzling off final yr’s record-breaking competitors lineup — together with seven movies directed by ladies, plus an eventual Palme d’Or win for Justine Triet (solely the third girl to win the pageant’s prime prize) — this yr’s Cannes Movie Competition has returned to outdated habits. The 77th version will embrace (as of in the present day’s announcement) simply 4 movies directed by ladies within the competitors part, bringing illustration right down to 2021 ranges (and returning the pageant’s female-directed entries to a quantity that was solely hit in 2011).
Among the many competitors titles introduced in the present day: Cannes common Andrea Arnold will debut her “Hen,” Coralie Fargeat will comply with up her horror debut “Revenge” with “The Substance,” documentarian Payal Kapadia has her narrative function “All We Think about as Gentle,” and Agathe Riedinger makes her debut with “Wild Diamond.”
With a present lineup of 19 competitors titles, that implies that simply 21 % of this yr’s lineup consists of movies directed by ladies. Nonetheless, throughout in the present day’s early morning press convention, pageant director Thierry Frémaux was clear that the competitors titles should not full as of but, and he expects to announce three extra within the coming days, bringing the full to 22. (Enjoyable math: If all these new titles have been directed by ladies, it will deliver this yr’s share of competitors movies to over 31 %, which might nonetheless not meet final yr’s excessive; don’t depend on that taking place anyway).
Final yr’s record-breaking lineup included seven movies out of 21 directed by ladies (over 33 % of the lineup). Of these movies, Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” went on to win not solely the Palme d’Or, but additionally the Oscar for Finest Screenplay, whereas Kaouther Ben Hania picked up a nod within the Finest Documentary class for “4 Daughters.”
Lately, the pageant has continued to make small positive factors in spreading the wealth in its starry competitors part, after stalling out with simply 4 movies directed or co-directed by ladies within the part in 2019 and past. Programming greater than 4 ladies simply appeared unimaginable to the tony pageant, even with different wins (together with some literal ones) unfolding for feminine filmmakers elsewhere and at different festivals.
In 2022, the competitors part of the pageant included 5 movies directed or co-directed by ladies for the primary time ever, together with new movies from Claire Denis, Kelly Reichardt, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, and Charlotte Vandermeersch. These picks additionally raised the share of complete movies directed or co-directed by ladies in competitors to a then-festival excessive of 23.8 %.
In 2021, the marginally delayed pageant (which moved from Might to July) hosted 4 movies directed by ladies within the part out of a complete of 24, which suggests simply 16.6 % of the part’s movies have been made by ladies, together with new movies from Ildikó Enyedi, Mia Hansen-Løve, Catherine Corsini, and Julia Ducournau, who went on to change into solely the second girl to win the Palme d’Or along with her audacious “Titane.”
Cannes didn’t program 4 competitors titles from ladies till 2011 (the yr after that milestone, in 2012, no ladies made it into the part). Between 2016-2018, solely three feminine filmmakers made it into competitors every year; in 2019, the pageant once more notched 4 feminine administrators in competitors. (The pageant was canceled in 2020, although it did announce which movies would have been programmed, had the COVID pandemic not upended the world, although pageant brass didn’t use the standard designations for these movies, and there was no “competitors part.”)
Notably, this yr’s pageant’s competitors jury will at the least be led by a feminine filmmaker: “Barbie” director and co-writer Greta Gerwig will head up the contingent of worldwide cinema stars who will choose Cannes’ prime honor. The remainder of her jury might be introduced within the coming days. Gerwig is the primary feminine American filmmaker to carry the spot, and she or he’s solely the second feminine director to steer the jury, following Jane Campion in 2014. Actress Olivia de Havilland was Cannes’ first feminine jury president, when she held the publish in 1965.
Within the Un Sure Regard part, six movies directed by ladies made the reduce in a piece that to this point consists of 14 titles. They embrace Louise Courvoisier’s “Vingt Dieux,” Laetitia Dosch’s “Le Proces du Chien,” Ariane Labed’s “September Says,” Rungano Nyoni’s “On Turning into a Guinea Fowl,” Minh Quý Trương’s “Viet and Nam,” and Sandhya Suri’s “Santosh.” The part, usually seen as the house for extra forward-thinking and untraditional options, tends to program plenty of movies directed by ladies.
The Particular Screenings part consists of new movies from Yolande Zauberman (“La Belle de Gaza”) and Claire Simon (“Apprendre”), whereas the Midnights lineup consists of only one movie directed by a lady (out of 4), with Noémie Merlant’s “The Balconettes.” There are presently no movies directed by ladies within the Cannes Premieres part. Different lineup bulletins are anticipated within the coming days.
This yr’s pageant runs Might 14 – Might 25 in Cannes, France.