Unlike many other film festivals of its caliber, Cannes has never been a great place to see works by women.
A new announcement of the current 2015 lineup reveals that continues to be the case at the French festival, but delegate general Thierry Fremaux and his team seem to finally be making a few minor course corrections.
Two of the 17 films in this year’s main competition and 3 of the 14 films in the Un Certain Regard program will boast female filmmakers. Competing for the Palme d’Or will be Valerie Donzelli’s incestuous romance “Marguerite and Julien” and Maiwenn’s “Mon roi,” about another love story gone wrong.
In the Un Certain Regard program are Shin Su-won’s “Madonna,” about a nurse’s aide trying to secure an organ donation; Alice Winocour’s “Maryland,” a thriller about PTSD; and Ida Panahandeh’s “Nahid,” which is currently only being described as “a drama about love.”
A pair of high-profile women directors will screen their works out of competition: Natalie Portman (“A Tale of Love and Darkness,” an adaptation of Amos Oz’s autobiography) and festival opener Emmanuelle Bercot (“Standing Tall,” a coming-of-age tale co-starring Catherine Deneuve).
Cannes will also host screenings of Todd Haynes’ “Carol,” a lesbian romance set in the ’50s with Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara; Pixar’s “Inside Out,” about the roiling emotions within an 11-year-old girl; and “Amy,” the new documentary about the late singer Amy Winehouse.
The festival is expected to add a few more films to each program before the final lineup is set.
Cannes 2015 will run from May 13 to 24.
Here are the female-directed films announced thus far.
OPENER
“Standing Tall” (Emmanuelle Bercot, France).
COMPETITION
“Marguerite and Julien” (Valerie Donzelli, France).
“Mon roi” (Maiwenn, France).
UN CERTAIN REGARD
“Madonna” (Shin Su-won, South Korea).
“Maryland” (Alice Winocour, France-Belgium).
“Nahid” (Ida Panahandeh, Iran).
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
“A Tale of Love and Darkness” (Natalie Portman, Israel).
READ NEXT: No Cannes Do — The Status of Women Directors at Cannes Over the Last Decade
[via Variety]
