Indeed, a total of seven of the 21 Competition titles are directed by women, with talents including Alice Rohrwacher, Catherine Corsini, Jessica Hausner and Catherine Breillat. This is an all-time record for Cannes, which has repeatedly come under fire for its lack of gender representation – especially compared to the Berlin Film Festival’s near gender parity in its most recent Competition selection. Still, it’s slow progress but it’s progress. British director Jonathan Glazer is, somewhat surprisingly, a Cannes newbie. Since 2000, he’s given us acclaimed crime film Sexy Beast, the Nicole Kidman-starring drama Birth and Under The Skin, his undisputed masterpiece thus far, a deeply disturbing sci-fi that resonates to this day.
