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🇬🇷 Greece /Culture & Society

Venice Film Festival’s Only Woman Director in Competition Condemns Industry Inequality

From Kathimerini · () Greek

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

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Danish-Egyptian director May el-Toukhy, the only female fiction director among 21 contenders for Venice’s Golden Lion, said women’s limited representation reflects a structural problem in the film industry.
  • She said women directors still face greater difficulty securing financing, affecting budgets, casting options and access to major festivals.
  • Her film “Woman Unknown” explores the treatment of Danish women accused of relationships with German occupiers after World War II.

May el-Toukhy arrived at the Venice Film Festival with a distinction she would rather not have: she is the only woman directing a fiction film among the 21 candidates for the Golden Lion.

Presenting her harsh drama “Woman Unknown,” the Danish-Egyptian filmmaker said the imbalance reflects a structural problem she has encountered throughout her career. “It is a structural problem that I have faced throughout my career,” she said at a press conference before the film’s premiere.

It is a structural problem that I have faced throughout my career.

· May el-ToukhyShe described the persistent gender imbalance in the film industry.

El-Toukhy said it took six or seven years to make her first film after graduating from film school, while her male colleagues moved ahead much faster. She argued that financing remains harder for women directors, shaping everything from available budgets and casting choices to a film’s eventual chances of reaching major festivals.

Of course, I would very much like to have more women colleagues with me in the competition.

· May el-ToukhyShe reacted to being the only female fiction director competing for the Golden Lion.

Festival director Alberto Barbera has defended this year’s competition lineup, saying women directed only 24% of the submitted films, down from 30% a year earlier, and stressing that selections were based on artistic quality. El-Toukhy said she was grateful for the attention generated by her participation, but wished more women filmmakers were competing alongside her. “Of course, I would very much like to have more women colleagues with me in the competition,” she said.

Set in postwar Denmark, “Woman Unknown” follows Marie, a domestic worker preparing to marry her wealthy employer when a past relationship with a German soldier threatens her future. The film is set in a newly liberated Denmark, where women accused of relationships with occupying German forces often faced public humiliation and vigilante justice. “My film is about the invisibility of women,” El-Toukhy said. “About how, on the one hand, they are treated as objects, and on the other, they remain unseen and voiceless.”

My film is about the invisibility of women.

· May el-ToukhyShe connected the film’s themes to the broader issue of women’s representation.
About this summary

Originally published by Kathimerini in Greek. 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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