Cinegirl’s Picks In Review

My first year attending the Cannes International Film Festival was a wild ride to say the least. What was supposed to be a three-day cinematic vacation turned into 25 films in 10 days  with barely enough time to eat and sleep between screenings. Brushes with fame included cutting up Spike Lee at a crosswalk, holding open a door for Jodie Foster and narrowly avoiding dropping a chair squarely on Orlando Bloom’s head. I wouldn’t change it. 

Film-wise, most of my highlights featured in the festival’s various sidebars, outside the Official Competition where more established filmmakers traditionally compete for the prestigious Palme d’Or. These programs include the Un Certain Regard section, which focuses on emerging filmmakers, Critics Week, and the Directors Fortnight. My favourite film of the festival, Brazilian director Anita Rocha da Silveira’s Medusa, screened in the Directors Fortnight. One bright spark was French director Julia Ducournau taking home the Palme d’Or for her film Titane - the second woman to be awarded the festival’s highest honour, following Jane Campion’s win for her 1993 film The Piano.

In spite of an encouragingly diverse range of stories and voices being represented in the official competition, with only four of the official competition’s 24 films directed by women, the sentiment I gathered from most of my fellow film industry attendees was that when it comes to gender parity at Cannes, the festival is walking where it should be running. 

That being said, I’ve highlighted some standout female-directed projects from Cannes’ various sidebar segments this year. These programs are dedicated to showcasing new talent and creating a platform for emerging filmmakers at Cannes. If these female filmmakers are an indicator of what is to come, the future of women in film looks exceptionally bright.