They are the five directors competing for the Palme d’Or, the highest prize at the Cannes Film Festival

twenty-one. That is the number of filmmakers who participate in the official section and who aspire to the Palme d’Or, the highest prize of the Cannes Film Festival, which this year will take place from May 17 to 28. Of the 21, only five are women, which would correspond to 25%, the rest are men.

The general delegate of the festival, Thierry Frémaux, has said that “there are not few”, and that 25% corresponds to the percentage of female applicants.

Likewise, Frémaux indicated that in the case of French cinema, women represent 65% in the official section because “France is a country with many female directors.” He also mentioned that there is equality in the juries and that in 2021 women won in all sections. “Things are evolving in a positive way,” she said.

Last year there were four, compared to five in 2022. In 2021, the French filmmaker Julia Ducournau, 38, won the Palme d’Or, making her the second woman to win this award. She succeeded with the movie Titan.

They are the five women directors who are candidates to win this 2022:

Franco-Italian actress and director Valeria Bruni Tedeschi57, will present Les Amandiersabout a drama school founded by the well-known author and director Patrice Chéreau, with AIDS as the backdrop.

Also in contention for the Palme d’Or is the French claire denis76 years old, with stars at noona love story set in Central America.

another french, Leonor Serraille, born in 1986, competes with A little frerehis second film, about a family of migrants in the suburbs of Paris.

the american Kelly Reichardt58 years old and a prominent figure in independent cinema, narrates the day-to-day life of an artist in showing-up.

and the Belgian Charlotte Vandermeersch38, co-directs with Félix Van Groeningen The Otto Montagneabout a friendship between two boys.

Male candidates:

• James Grey: Armageddon Time
• Kore-Eda Hirokazu: Broker
• Lukas Dhont: Close
• David Cronenberg: Crimes Of The Future
• Jerzy Skolimowski: EO
• Arnaud Desplechin: Frère Et Soeur (Brother and Sister)
• Park Chan-Wook: Heojil Kyolshim (Decision To Leave)
• Ali Abbasi: Holy Spider
• Saeed Roustaee: Leila’s Brothers
• Mario Martone: Nostalgia
• Albert Serra: Pacification
• Cristian Mungiu: RMN
• Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne: Tori Et Lokita (Tori and Lokita)
• Ruben Östlund: Triangle of Sadness
• Tarik Saleh as Walad Min Al Janna (Boy From Heaven)
• Kirill Serebrennikov: Zhena Tchaikovsky (Tchaikovsky’s Wife)

But the Cannes Film Festival is not only its official selection. In Critics’ Week, which emphasizes new talent, out of 11 feature films, five are made by women.

Also in the Directors’ Fortnight, 11 directors appear in the selection of 23 films, among them the Chilean Manuela Martelli, with “1976”, and the Spanish Elena López Riera, with “El agua”. Both present their debut feature.

This parallel section, which also promotes young authors, will deliver its traditional Golden Chariot to Kelly Reichardt.

The judge

If the official selection is the weak point in terms of parity, the festival’s jury, on the other hand, is closer to the principle of equality, with four women among the nine members. On three occasions, they were more numerous (2009, 2014 and 2018).

This year, the president of the jury is the actor Vincent Lindon, but the names of the interpreters Penélope Cruz and Marion Cotillard circulated strongly until the last moment.

And the Spanish actress Rossy de Palma will chair the jury of the Golden Chamber, which awards the best first film of the entire edition.

Added to this is the fact that the Cannes Film Festival recently appointed the jurist Iris Knobloch as president, who will take over from Pierre Lescure in July. She is the only woman in front of a big festival.

other festivals

In the other major European festivals, parity is not a reality either. In September, the Venice Film Festival selected five films by female directors in competition, out of a total of 21 feature films.

Only the Berlinale comes close to the goal: in its 2022 edition, in February, seven films out of 18 were directed by women.

And as in Cannes, there are two directors – the French Audrey Diwan in Venice and the Spanish Carla Simón in Berlin – who won the highest award.

In the German festival, in fact, practically all the awards were won by women: best film, best director, best screenplay, special grand prize, and the award for best performance. (YO)