Of the 21 films unveiled on Thursday that will make up the lineup for this year’s festival, just two – or less than 10 per cent – are directed by women: The Perfect Candidate from BAFTA-nominated Saudi filmmaker, Haifaa Al-Mansour, and Babyteeth, the feature debut of Australian TV director, Shannon Murphy.
This, coupled with the presence of controversial director Roman Polanski – who fled to France in 1978 after admitting the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl in the US – has sparked an international outcry.
Last year, the festival was slammed for its “toxic masculinity” by female members of the film industry after it selected just one film directed by a woman for the second year in a row.
But the festival’s director, Alberto Barbera, claimed the 2019 lineup was representative of the “feminine condition”.
“Numerous films this year deal with the theme of the feminine condition in the world which, even when directed by men, reveal a new sensitivity, proof that the scandals of recent years have left their mark on our culture,” Barbera said as he presented this year’s lineup in Rome.
Last year, Barbera said he would “rather quit” than bow to pressure for a quota for women after the Cannes, Toronto and Locarno festivals promoted gender equality.
In recent years, Venice has had the worst record when it comes to female representation in its competition lineup, averaging just one movie from a women director per year, in a field of between 18 and 22 titles.
In contrast, 46 per cent of competition films at Sundance this year were directed by women, and 40 per cent of Berlin’s 2019 festival lineup featured female directors.
The 2019 Venice International Film Festival will run from August 28 to September 7.
