Venice Film Festival criticised for low female director representation

Six Italian film organisations – 100autori, Anac, Air3, Doc/it, Ewa and Women in Film Television & Media Italia – have condemned the line‑up for the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, noting that only one of the 20 films in competition, May el‑Toukhy’s "Woman Unknown", is directed by a woman. They highlighted that six female directors were present in the previous year’s competition and questioned the festival’s criteria of “quality”, arguing that such standards may reflect entrenched cultural biases.

Festival director Alberto Barbera said the result surprised him and that he had “desperately hoped” to find quality films by women. The associations reminded the festival of the 2018 signing of the international “50/50 by 2020” pledge, which aims for greater gender balance and transparency in selection processes, noting that eight years later the goal remains unmet. They called for a reassessment of the evaluation criteria and a stronger commitment to gender parity in future editions.