Oh, give me a break Jessica. You know, I love you and all, but this is going a little too far. So is giving Sofia Coppola a Best Director prize for a film that has her remaking "The Beguiled," a film that wasn't even that essential in the first place.
I saw all 19 movies in competition and, yes, there is obviously a gender issue going on, but we are already seeing a change, every year more and more female directors are finding work. It's a great time we live in, but, in all honesty, I see Coppola winning the Directing prize like a big slap in the face. It was a protest vote, pure and simple. I really look forward to watching "The Beguiled" again, in a more rested, non-chaotic state as compared to the chaos of Cannes, but I can name you 10 or more directors in the competition that deserved that prize more than Sofia did.
I think it's a more complex problem than what she is saying. I mean, you can't really fault the movies just because they don't have a women's POV. It all starts with having more female directors, female film critics.
Jessica says this:
“This is the first time I watched 20 films in 10 days, and what I really took away from this experience is how the world views women,” Chastain says. “It was quite disturbing to me, to be honest. There were quite some exceptions. I was surprised by the representation of female characters on film.”
“I think if we include more female storytellers, I hope we have more women that I see in my own day-to-day life. They just don’t react to the men around them. They have their own point-of-view.”
Laika's “Wildwood” premiered at the BFI London Film Festival, and the reviews are rapturous. They're also clearly stronger than the reception for the festival's other big animated premiere.