Cate Blanchett, Ava DuVernay, Kristen Stewart And More Celebrities Participate in Cannes Film Festival Red Carpet Protest

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The goal was to highlight gender inequality in the film industry.

A group of women in entertainment took part in a red carpet protest at Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, May 12, in order to shed light on the gender inequality that exists within the film industry, Vanity Fair reports. According to the outlet, the women involved walked up the steps at the Théâtre Debussy where they then stood motionless in silence. In addition to the powerful gesture, actor Cate Blanchett and director Agnès Varda gave a statement, explaining the intent behind the demonstration.

The protest — which included actors like Kristen Stewart and Salma Hayek, as well as directors such as Patty Jenkins and Ava DuVernay — consisted of 82 women total, and for a specific reason. "We are 82 women," Cate Blanchett said in her statement, "representing the number of female directors who have climbed these stairs since the first edition of the Cannes film festival in 1946. In the same period, 1,688 male directors have climbed these very same stairs." Cate also noted that 71 male directors have received the "prestigious" Palme d'Or (the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival), while only two female directors have been given the notable award.


Director Eva Husson explained to Vanity Fair that she hopes that the protest will "initiate conversations that we need to have." She added: "It’s high time. It’s healthy. It’s scary. It’s exploding in the face of a lot of people. The patriarchy has not seen it coming so they feel really threatened by it. It’s a huge paradigm shift."

Gender inequality has been plaguing Hollywood and the film industry for years, and the problem has been highlighted time and again. Just earlier this year, the Golden Globe Awards failed to include any female directors in its nominees, and just 7% of the top 250 grossing films in 2016 were directed by women. Even more disheartening, a report from the University of Southern California recently found that only 4% of the directors of the 1,100 top films from 2007 to 2017 were female. That same study determined that only seven women of color worked as directors on the films that were included in the findings.

As with other symbolic gestures that have taken place on red carpets this year, the actual problem can only be solved with real work within the industry itself. But the initial conversation is absolutely the first step, and that's why every effort matters. As Women and Hollywood founder Melissa Silverstein explained: "That this festival has finally taken note of the huge gender disparity in this business can only help move the dial forward."