The Tree, directed by Julie Bertucelli, produced by Taylor Media & Les Films du Poisson
“I never wanted to be good as a woman — I wanted to be good as a filmmaker,” Agnes Varda.
The Cannes Film Festival, one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, gives the Palme d’Or, the highest prize to competing films. This year the blogosphere and off-line media have been on fire about the lack of female film directors in the 2010 Palme d’Or competition.
Since it’s inception the Palme d’Or has been a risk-taking award often including many filmmakers from the Global South. This was influenced the anti-fascist and progressive origins of the festival. The very first Cannes Film Festival in 1946 had the Egyptian director Mohammed Karim with his film Dunia. This has continued with names like Souleymane Cissé from Mali Mahamat-Saleh Haroun from Chad and more recently the 2010 winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul from Thailand who directed Uncle Boonmee who can Recall his Past Lives. The Palme d’Or has also consistently taken risks by including innovative filmmakers like Pier Paolo Pasolini, Luis Buñuel, Agnes Varda and Andrea Arnold.
The first 44 nominees in 1946 had only one woman: Portuguese director Bárbara Virgínia for her film Três Dias Sem Deus. Since then even with the very long lists of male directors, there are usually just one or two women directors.
It seems the will for experimentation with the Palme d’Or, does not extend to gender. A shocking statistic by Movie Online shows since 2000, the Cannes Film Festival has screened 212 films in competition and a paltry 8% are by women!
The Tree by Julie Bertucelli – Out of Competition at Cannes Film Festival 2010
Why are women so under-represented in getting selected for awards like the Palme d’Or? Is it because women make bad films, or are busy with babies, or are economically poorer than men? I think the problem of the exclusion of women is buried within our collective psyches. This bias is conditioned by a pervasive and persistent patriarchal gaze which invalidates most creative works by women. Men AND women who form the selection panel in the Palme d’Or are thus transfixed by the dominant idea that ‘genius’ is somehow intrinsic with masculinity. And if they follow progressive anti-colonial philosophies they may even concede that this genius can exist outside of Europe.
When a woman from whatever culture is included amongst nominees, she will often blame other female directors for their own failure in not ‘making the grade’. This is exemplified by comments made by Jane Campion – the only woman to win the Palme d’Or:
“I think women don’t grow up with the harsh world of criticism that men grow up with, we are more sensitively treated, and when you first experience the world of filmmaking you have to develop a very tough skin.
“My suspicion is that women aren’t used to that. They must put on their coats of armour and get going.”
For anything to change in the Cannes Film Festival, the institution needs a radical re-visioning of film culture. I suggest the selectors should only view films which have erased the directorial/writing/producing credits – an example where this was used were blind auditions for the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, and later taken up by the Vienna which led to the inclusion of more female members.
Now the Palme d’Or has a chance to live up to its enfant terrible reputation and take the plunge. I am certain where it leads others will certainly follow.
WOW. Love this. Go Campbell–
PS The next thing Jane Campion says in this statement is “because we need them”, so I read it as exemplifying a necessary mix of rigour and tenderness, coming out of a longing for more women directors rather than saying it’s women’s fault– But it’s true, women film directors who’ve “made it” often don’t want to address systemic failures and don’t like it when others do, e.g. the other day someone included an email in my blog’s comments, from a writer/director who wrote about me: Why isn’t she working on her skills as a film maker instead of writing blogs about how unfair everything is? (I think I can do both.)
Campbell, well put!
Campion is starting to change her tune- she told me in an interview in San Francisco last year ( filmint.nu, no 7, 2009)
“I would say massive inequality is at work . The guys or the financiers are not supporting women”.
This after a hiatus between Holy Smoke and Bright Star of seven years.
But the point is she did say the opposite when she was in the Cannes limelight. Varda is notorious for saying things against women and questioned why there should be a women’s film festival (Créteil Films de Femmes).
I recently met a young women and filmmaker who said that why should women stand out just cause they are women, they often are quite bad. Pretty disturbing.
I dropped out of film school because I couldnt stand the attention men were getting over the women.
We know the score at Cannes and what is NOT seen is more important than the veterans that get their film selected before its even seen, but Frameline should have spotlighted The Owls made by lesbians as opening film, not a BBC TV movie made by a man with a bunch of lipstick dykes.
Also Cannes chooses films by women ( or even for literature the Nobel prize of late) if women write open about sexuality and there is graphic sexual content. This is what women can do, speak about their own sexuality. With men.
and at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival, Maya Deren won the ‘Grand Prix Internationale’ for amateur film –the first American and first woman to be so honored.
Wow! Thanks for responding to my article.
When I wrote the article I was thinking of why only male filmmakers were considered to be geniuses. And why women who make films about men are or who put down other women are validated. I realised it is difficult to go against the patriarchal grain and be a “killjoy” as Professor Sara Ahmed eloquently describes.
As women we must take responsibility for the way we collude with the status quo as enablers – producers, selectors, curators, programmers and funders.
The reason for including the idea of the blind selection was to allow ANYONE to make a film about ANYTHING whatever their biological or chosen gender.
wow,thanks for sharing this!
Hey! Thanks for using our image in your article. Have you seen The Tree? We’re very proud of Julie for her success and are so excited about the release of the film next month. She did a fantastic job.
Hey Taylor!
No I have not seen The Tree, but looking forward to seeing it.
When is it showing in the UK?
Congrats to Julie. I liked the look of the film from the videos online that is why I chose the picture.
Good luck with it all.