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Maggie Gyllenhaal Says Film Industry Has a ‘Systemic Problem’ for Women Directors
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Culture & Society

Maggie Gyllenhaal Says Film Industry Has a ‘Systemic Problem’ for Women Directors

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Maggie Gyllenhaal, president of this year's Venice Film Festival jury, said women directors face systemic barriers, including greater difficulty securing film financing.
  • Only two of the 21 films competing for the Golden Lion were directed by women, prompting criticism of the festival's selection.
  • Festival director Alberto Barbera said selections were based on quality and complexity, while Gyllenhaal argued that cinema can foster empathy during a global emergency.

Maggie Gyllenhaal opened the Venice Film Festival by saying plainly that women directors still face “a systemic problem” in the film industry. The American filmmaker, who chairs this year’s jury, said women find it much harder to secure financing for their films.

Her comments came as the festival faced criticism over the limited number of women directors in competition for the Golden Lion. Just two of the 21 competing films were directed by women: Woman Unknown, by Denmark’s May el-Toukhy, and Naza, by Israeli filmmakers Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham.

I would say that there is a systemic problem. Obviously, I think it is much harder for women to get financing for their films.

— Maggie GyllenhaalShe described the barriers women directors face in the film industry.

Gyllenhaal questioned whether subjects that women want to explore are sometimes dismissed as less worthy because women have experienced the world differently. “Who decides what is good? Who decides what is valuable?” she asked, while pointing to the many women taking part in the festival’s juries and other sections.

Who decides what is good? Who decides what is valuable?

— Maggie GyllenhaalShe questioned how the industry evaluates subjects associated with women’s experiences.

She also said women had gained the opportunity to make films only relatively recently, meaning the industry still had “a long way to go.” In her view, audiences may need time to accept that many women make films differently from men.

The opening news conference also focused on the festival’s strong presence of political films and stories about war, crises and social tensions. Festival director Alberto Barbera said no subject, director or country faced a veto. “The only requirement is the quality, the complexity of a work,” he said.

The only requirement is the quality, the complexity of a work.

— Alberto BarberaThe Venice festival director explained the stated basis for selecting films.

Gyllenhaal asked how people could discuss cinema while the world was in a state of emergency. Her answer was empathy: film allows audiences to encounter stories made and told by other people. She said no subject or filmmaker should be excluded from being heard, and that audiences could challenge themselves by listening to stories about deeply corrupt people.

How is it possible that we are here talking about cinema right now, when the world is in a state of emergency?

— Maggie GyllenhaalShe connected the festival’s discussions with the wider global crisis.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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