International Venice Film Festival criticized for being male dominated

The International Venice Film Festival which opened yesterday was under heavy criticism because of its male dominated representation with only one woman director participating in the official competition.  With this milestone transformed by Hollywood as a launching pad for the subsequent Oscar selections with new works signed by Damien Shazel and the Queen brothers and Alfonso Quaron as well as the launch of Lady Gaga on the silver screen, feminist activists heavily criticized the event for only including one woman director for the Lion D’Or award.  Responding to these critiques, the artistic director of the Venice Film Festival, Alberto Barbera, said that he would rather “change his career” rather than accept pressures to have a women quota.  To be noted that the Cannes, Toronto and Locarno Film Festivals have all pledged to work towards ensuring gender equality amongst competitors for the awards.   Barbera’s statement faced critiques by the Union of European Women Directors which released a public statement saying that “the matter is unbelievable” and adding that “when Barbera threatens to withdraw, he is furthering the theory which assumes that choosing works by women directors is subject to lower standards”. (An Nahar, August 30th 2018)

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