Never before has the Cannes Film Festival selected so many female directors in official competition. This year, they are seven, including three French, to claim the Palme d’Or. One of them can become the third woman to obtain it after Julia Ducournau in 2021.
It’s a record. In 76 editions, the Cannes Film Festival has never had so many women in official competition. This year, they are seven directors to claim the Palme d’or, against 14 men. One of them may become the third woman to win one of the most famous awards in the film industry, two years after the Frenchwoman Julia Ducournau and 30 years after Jane Campion.
The French in the spotlight
They are three French women in official competition. First, Catherine Breillat, a big name in French cinema for almost 50 years. Director of successful films like Perfect love ! or Romance, she also crossed over to the other side of the camera as an actress early in her career. A novelist before becoming a filmmaker, she also distinguished herself as a screenwriter, for Frederico Fellini and Maurice Pialat in particular. This is her second selection at Cannes, where she returns to present Last summera love story between a woman and her stepson.
Director Justine Triet will present Anatomy of a fall, a police drama that tells the trial of a woman, accused of the murder of her husband. This is the second official selection for the Frenchwoman, already a contender for the Palme d’Or in 2019 for her film Sibylvery well received by the press.
The third French selection in competition has caused a lot of ink to flow. Initially ruled out due to accusations of harassment on set of her latest film, Catherine Corsini was added to the list a few days ago. This director is a regular on the Croisette, since she was a member of the short film jury in 2004 and president of the Camera d’or jury in 2016. She returns, in competition this time, with The returna drama starring Aissatou Diallo Sagna, Denis Podalydès and Virginie Ledoyen.
Festival regulars are back
Catherine Corsini is not the only Festival regular to be selected in competition this year. The Austrian Jessica Hausner, member of the jury in 2021, presents Club Zero, a thriller, where she notably directed Elsa Zylberstein, Sidse Babett Knusden and Matthieu Demy. Italian director Alice Rohrwacher, selected for the chimera, has also scoured the dark rooms of the Croisette. Member of the jury in 2019, she won the Grand Prix in 2014 for Wonders and the screenplay prize in 2018 for Happy as Lazzaro. It therefore already had its letters of nobility in Cannes.
Another rising star of world cinema, Kaouther Ben Hania presents a documentary, Olfa’s Daughters. In 2019, she became the first Tunisian nominated for the Oscar for best foreign film, for The man who sold his skin. This former student of the Tunis School of Arts and Cinema had already been selected for Cannes in 2017 in the Un Certain Regard section for her thriller Beauty and the Pack.
A first movie
If the Festival gives pride of place to its regulars and to directors with already well-launched careers, one name stands out: Ramata-Toulaye Sy. This Senegalese is in competition for her first film, Panel et Adama, whose screenplay is taken from his graduation work at La Fémis. Before going behind the camera, Ramata-Toulaye Sy worked as a screenwriter. In particular alongside a certain Atiq Rahimi, member of the jury this year, with whom she collaborated for the film adaptation of the novel Our Lady of the Nile.
In total, the Cannes Film Festival selected 19 films directed by women, across all sections. The director Maïwenn will also open the hostilities, with Jeanne du Baryfilm where she shares the poster with Johnny Depp.