Venice Comes Under Fire (Again) Due To Gender Disparity Among Competition Films After Signing A Pledge To Do Better Last Year

It was almost exactly a year ago that the Venice Film Festival found itself in hot water after it was revealed that only one female director was chosen to compete amongst the 21 competition films. The disparity led to Venice boss Alberto Barbera signing a pledge to continue to work towards better representation for women in the festival. Today, the 2019 lineup was unveiled and progress was made. Barely.

This year, out of the 21 competition films, only two were directed by females, with Haifaa Al Mansour’s “The Perfect Candidate” and Shannon Murphy’s “Babyteeth.” Sure, purely on a stats angle, that’s a 100% increase, but still a far cry from other festivals and a far cry from even Venice’s other programs.

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The year’s first major international festival, Cannes, actually featured 5 female directors in its competition, which is more than double what is at Venice. And even in the 2019 Venice Critics’ Week program, almost half of the films are directed by women, which only provides an even bigger contrast for the official competition.

Perhaps making matters worse, at least in the eyes of some in the public, is the fact that this year’s low female representation is combined with the inclusion of Roman Polanski’s “J’Accuse.” The controversial filmmaker has found his decades-old rape conviction brought back into the light due to the #MeToo movement, and with Polanski seemingly blacklisted from Hollywood, the inclusion at Venice stands out even more.

READ MORE: Venice Film Festival Signs Pledge To Adopt Policies For Gender Parity In Light Of Recent Backlash

As Melissa Silverstein, founder of Women and Hollywood, simply tweeted, “1 rapist. 2 women directors in competition #Venezia76. What else am I missing?”

Obviously, this isn’t the last time this discussion will happen over the next month, as we prepare for the prestigious event. Barbera was notably defiant last year when presented with the controversy, so it’ll be interesting to see how the festival treats this year’s headlines.

The Venice FIlm Festival begins on August 28.

1 rapist. 2 women directors in competition #Venezia76. What else am I missing?

— Melissa Silverstein (@melsil) July 25, 2019

Two women directors out of 21, and the red carpet rolled out for Roman Polanski. Great work, Venice ???? https://t.co/P8kCKWRRZ2

— Anita Singh (@anitathetweeter) July 25, 2019

Whatever the quality of the films turns out to be, this year's Venice is a disgrace when it comes to representation. https://t.co/BZyB3WsUBi

— Finn Halligan (@finnhalligan) July 25, 2019