Cate Calls for Equality at Cannes

The 71^stCannes Film Festival‘s jury president Cate Blanchett opened a press conference with reporters on Tuesday with a bang.

When asked why movies still matter, she sarcastically answered, while glancing at jury members Kristen Stewart and La Seydoux, “So actresses don’t answer that, because you have no idea how to answer that.”

• When asked if this was the most female-skewing jury in the festival’s history, she said, “no,” adding that she’d laid out her must-haves with Cannes director Thierry Frmaux before accepting her role as president.
• “It was one of my first questions to Thierry . . . I said we really need gender and racial parity [in the jury],” Blanchett said. “And he said, ‘We do [have that].’”
• When asked why only 3 of the 21 films were directed by women, she said: “A few years ago there were only two, and I know the selection committee has more women on board than in previous years, which will obviously change the lens through which the films are chosen. But these things are not going to happen overnight . . . Would I like to see more women in competition? Absolutely. Do I expect and hope that is going to happen in the future? I hope so.”
• On the impact of the #MeToo movement, she said: “For profound, lasting change to occur, it has to take place through specific actions-not through generalizations, not through pontification. It’s about addressing the gender gap and addressing the racial diversity and equality and the way we make the work. And of course that is going on in many industries.”
• She continued: “Is [#MeToo] going to have a direct impact on films in competition this year? Or six, nine months on? Not specifically . . . the women here are not here because of their gender. They are here because of the quality of work. And we will be assessing them as filmmakers, as we should be.”