April 24, 2008

Women Directors Missing from Cannes

The lineup for the 61st Cannes Film Festival was announced yesterday and it's the same old story, women directors are noticeably missing from the films in competition. From what I can tell, only 1.5 films out of 19 are directed by women. They include: La Mujer Sin Cabeza directed by Argentine Lucrecia Martel and Linha de Passe which is co-directed by Daniela Thomas and Walter Salles.

Un Certain Regard is a bit better with 2.5 out of 19. Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir's film debut Milh Hadha Al-Bahr (Salt of the Sea) is in the lineup along with and Kelly Reichardt, (Old Joy) with Wendy and Lucy starring Michelle Williams. Joana Hadjithomas co-directed Jeveux Voir with Khali Joreige.

Other women directed films include: Jennifer Lynch's Surveillance; Marina Zenovich's Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired and Alison Thompson's The Third Wave.