The prestigious Locarno Film Festival announced today that, starting in 2023, their acting awards would no longer be gender-based. There will only be a “Best Performance” award.
This switch to gender-neutral performance categories follows the same thing the Berlin Film Festival did a year ago. Locarno is claiming they are already working on next year’s 76th edition “as an even more open and inclusive event, capable of fully representing its universe of talents.”
As I’ve said before, these switches to gender-neutral categories only hurts women more. You strip away a potential female acting prize that could launch a career in favour of gender inclusive claptrap.
If anything, the problem and lack of gender parity should be solved within the industry, in creating better roles for women. Performance is subjective and if you're a major film festival you're getting some of the best performances in the world.
So what happens when the best performances are all male? I mean, just from a numbers perspective, there are still more male-led films than female, so, technically, there would be a greater chance of the acting award going to a man, and yet, if you're only rewarding men then there will be the predictable perception of sexism. However, on the flip side, if you're attempting to appear impartial by deliberately selecting women then you'll appear to be pandering. Again, there is no winner here.
It’s a losing battle, Locarno. You just fell into the same trap as Berlin. I doubt Cannes and Venice follow suit.
Bassim Tariq was the first one in the chair. The "Mogul Mowgli" director spent two years building out the Mahershala Ali vehicle before exiting in 2022, and he's now letting the air out on this one.