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Female Directors at Cannes Can’t Break the Auteur Glass Ceiling

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In 2018, Ava DuVernay, Cate Blanchett, Agnès Varda, Kristen Stewart and over 80 other female filmmakers stood on the steps of the Palais at the Cannes Film Festival to protest gender inequality in the global film industry. That year, only three films in the festival’s prestigious competition section were directed by women.

Thierry Frémaux then signed a pledge from Le Collectif 50/50, the French association dedicated to promoting sexual and gender diversity in the film industry. The pledge outlined steps the festival would take to move toward greater inclusion of women in its lineup, including generating gendered statistics for its annual program, while working toward achieving gender equity in its governing bodies and programming committees. 

Some eight years later, while gains have been made, this year’s competition section includes five female directors, down from last year’s seven (the record for the most women directors ever in the main competition section). At the 2026 festival’s opening press conference on May 12, Cannes boss Frémaux defensively offered: “Films are chosen for their quality, not the gender of their directors.” 

When asked about its efforts to reach parity in the festival’s main competition, a spokesperson for the fest who was reached for comment by THR said: “The Cannes Film Festival has been committed to gender parity for several years across all areas directly under its responsibility.”

“The word quota is scaring everybody,” says Fanny de Casimacker, general delegate at Le Collectif 50/50. “People in the industry are always giving responsibility to someone else. We really think that every single step of the film industry has a big responsibility.”

Cannes provided THR with an array of data, such as the fact that the juries have been gender balanced since 2011, their presidents since 2013, and the official selection committee is a team currently composed of five women and four men. On top of that, the permanent staff organizing the fest and the Marché du Film is now over 50 percent female, including in leadership positions. 

The percentage of women — out of the total number of directors — who have feature films in the official selection this year (competition, Un Certain Regard, out of competition, Midnight Screening, Special Screening and Cannes Première) is at 34 percent, up 8 percent from 2025. But this number dwindles to just 22 percent in the festival’s marquee competition program, which features films that most often go on to win awards and land top distribution deals.

“We’re having a really hard time breaking through the auteur glass ceiling. There is still the perception that auteurs are men,” says Women in Film CEO Kirsten Schaffer, who notes there are a handful of exceptions, like Chloé Zhao and Jane Campion. At Cannes, a festival that bills itself as the global home of auteurs, female directors can face even more biases. 

Faith Elizabeth, founder of U.K.-based female empowerment organization Yes She Cannes, a Croisette fixture since 2018, says the competition section is where the crux of the issue lies. “Competition is considered in a much higher regard in terms of the selection, because they’re competing for the Palme d’Or,” she tells THR. Yes She Cannes holds events aimed at championing female filmmakers and producers, and arranges tangible support systems for those entering the industry.

The 2026 short film competition is close to parity, with four of the 10 films directed by women, while 44 percent of the special screenings are directed by women. Still, Elizabeth questions, “Are [women] going into different categories that are not as prestigious? Although overall, it looks good, are we just upping the numbers by putting more women in smaller selections?”

This year’s Un Certain Regard section has the highest percentage of women directors, with 10 out of the 19 films directed by women. (Un Certain Regard is also opening with the latest film from director Jane Schoenbrun, who is nonbinary.) “What Un Certain Regard shows us is that it is possible. If the main competition really wanted to, they could,” says Schaffer, who points to other prestigious festivals’ recent history of adding more women to competition sections. 

Of the 22 films in the Berlin Film Festival competition section, nine were directed by women. The Sundance Film Festival, America’s preeminent platform for indie filmmaking, has had parity in its U.S. Dramatic Competition section for several years. Seventy percent of the films in the 2026 competition lineup were directed by women. 

Schaffer and other insiders point out that several of the issues that keep women directors from the highest echelons of the international film industry are systemic, from education and mentorship to financing and distribution. After debuting the 2019 festival competition lineup, where only four competition films were directed by women, Frémaux argued: “Cannes and any festival, we are the last stage of that journey.”

Top film schools like USC, NYU and AFI are now routinely graduating more women than men, but financing for independent productions still predominantly goes to projects from male directors, as do the projects with the larger budgets.

“We have a global crisis in how independent cinema is financed, and it is affecting women and marginalized people first,” says de Casimacker.

Schaffer says she and her team at WIF have a shorthand for this phenomenon: “When the money comes in, the women go out.” She says. “For every Book Club, you have many, many Jason Statham action thrillers.”

Filmmaker Daphne Schmon launched her nonprofit Breaking Through the Lens in 2018 at the Cannes Film Festival, coincidentally the same year of the demonstration on the steps of the Palais. The organization’s focus is on helping female filmmakers find avenues to financing through grants, curated meetings and industry mentorship. Says Schmon: “We purposely focus on the financing stage, because we believe that that’s where the problem lies, and that’s where change needs to happen.”

At a Breaking Through the Lens event at last year’s Cannes, Stewart talked about the difficulties she faced when finding financing for her directorial debut, The Chronology of Water. While goodwill for female filmmakers is high, Schmon notes that this doesn’t translate to funding. “There’s a lot of wanting to get better. But when push comes to shove, there are very, very few people who are putting their money where their mouth is.”

As a U.S.-based independent producer and business development executive, Luna Zhang considers it her mission to finance female-led stories, as well as movies that focus on Asian and minority representation and social consciousness. She comes to Cannes as a producer of a short film competing in La Cinef titled Tian Tian De Mi Mi (Our Secrets), a coming-of-age tale from director Lenti Liang.

Zhang is admittedly buoyed by the amount of female talent set for Cannes premieres this year, but says there remains an industry-wide crisis when it comes to decision-making. “People are still threatened by females, and they don’t want to recognize female authority,” says Zhang. “It’s an ego blocking their way, or [they’re] not confident that a woman can make things happen as [well] as men can.” 

Outside of private financing, there are continuing equity conversations when it comes to the handling of state-funded projects. Some countries, like Sweden, have implemented quotas for the funding that comes out of their film commissions. Notably, one of the women-directed competition titles at this year’s Cannes, Gentle Monster from Marie Kreutzer, is a Swedish co-production. 

Says Elizabeth: “[When] we have organizations that can give opportunities to different voices — not just voices who can necessarily afford to pay for that visibility — [then] we can see the landscape shifting.”

There is an overall acknowledgment that progress is being made, it’s just not at the speed that was promised. “It’s a very slow evolution,” says de Casimacker.

Schmon praises Cannes for upholding artistic excellence and the gains made so far by the fest’s programmers, but would like to see the festival engage more with organizations like hers. “Festivals should really be picking films based on merit. They should also realize [the number of female directors] is pretty shocking,” says Schmon. “I would never want to be in the festival because they had to hit some quota, but that’s not to say that having goals aren’t good.” 

Cannes comes at a moment when female representation in the director’s chair is currently in a precarious situation, domestically. The larger American entertainment industry, which has slashed diversity programs and is currently in a period of retrenchment due to economic headwinds, has also backslid in terms of representation in the director’s chair. In 2025, the number of female directors behind the top 100 grossing films of the year hit a seven-year low, with women representing just 8.1 percent of all directors on these films, according to USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative.

Says de Casimacker: “We think that the objective of reaching equity and parity is possible. We just need to have more concrete objectives. Parity was a promise, but we don’t need more promises.”

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Chase Infiniti To Star In ‘Portrait Of God’ Horror Movie For Lionsgate

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October 1, 2026

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Lionsgate has acquired Portrait of God, a horror flick from emerging genre filmmaker Dylan Clark based on his viral short of the same name. With One Battle After Another breakout Chase Infiniti now aboard to star, the project is greenlighted for production.

Portrait comes to Lionsgate after being put in turnaround by Universal, which acquired a spec from Clark in a competitive situation in December 2025, as we first reported. The Lionsgate acquisition is natural, given that they’ve set Clark to make his big studio filmmaking debut with a reimagining of 1999 horror classic The Blair Witch Project, dated for September 24, 202

Portrait of God will mark the first-ever collaboration of producers Sam Raimi and Jordan Peele, two of the biggest names in horror, with Clark directing from a script co-written with Joe Russo (The Inheritance). Involved with the project since it was at Universal, Raimi is presently set to direct an adaptation of the 1978 horror film Magic for Lionsgate as his next project.

While the studio is keeping the plot of the feature take under wraps, Clark’s short revolves around a religious young woman who discovers the disquieting answer to the question, “What does God look like?” Opening with a quote from the Old Testament — “No man shall see Me and live” — it finds Mia sitting in the dark, practicing a slide presentation about a work of art dubbed “Portrait of God.” Some who view the painting perceive it as completely black, she says, while others report seeing a person in the darkness — one who’s been described time and again, in consistent detail.

Minimalistic yet menacing, the short offers a counterpoint to the idea of God as a benevolent entity. It’s accrued over 10 million views on YouTube since its August 2022 debut.

Raimi and Rob Tapert will produce through their Ghost House shingle, as will Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld through their Monkeypaw Productions, and Joe Russo (The Inheritance). Romel Adam and Jose Cañas will oversee for Ghost House. On behalf of Monkeypaw, Chris Rosati is exec producing through his first-look deal at shingle NAT20 Films. Scott O’Brien will oversee the project for Lionsgate, which had Dan Freedman negotiated deals on its behalf.

Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Adam Fogelson commented, “We’re delighted to deepen our creative partnership with Dylan Clark, whose remarkable talent and distinctive perspective make him one of the most exciting emerging voices in horror. With Sam and Jordan, two of the genre’s most influential producers, the extraordinary Chase Infiniti starring, and Dylan at the helm, this is an exceptional creative team. We believe they have all the ingredients for a film that is haunting, thought-provoking, and scary as hell.”

Like Obsession‘s Curry Barker and Backrooms‘ Kane Parsons, Clark is a young genre filmmaker who came to the industry’s attention after gaining a large following in the YouTube horror space. He stated, “With Blair Witch, I’m experiencing firsthand the trust Lionsgate places in its filmmakers, and I couldn’t be happier that Portrait of God has found a home there as well. I’m also thrilled to welcome Chase Infiniti to our team. She blew me away in One Battle After Another and is one of the most exciting young actors working today.”

Infiniti earned noms at the Actor Awards, Golden Globes and BAFTA Awards for her breakout role opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. She came to the film after appearing in a major role opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Negga in Apple’s hit thriller series Presumed Innocent. Most recently, she’s been seen leading The Testaments, Hulu’s follow-up to hit Margaret Atwood adaptation The Handmaid’s Tale, earning her first Emmy nomination for her work on Season 1. With work on the second season underway, Infiniti will also be seen coming up in The Julia Set, an indie coming-of-age drama from Niki Byrne coming off its premiere at TIFF. She is repped by Gersh and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.

Clark is repped by UTA, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Ginsburg Daniels Kallis; Russo by Fictional Entity, Untitled, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes.

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Nina Gold To Receive Deadline Casting Award

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October 1, 2026

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Nina Gold will be honored with the inaugural Deadline Disruptor Achievement in Casting Award at the Hamptons International Film Festival this weekend.

The new award, presented in partnership with Deadline, recognizes casting professionals whose work has fundamentally reshaped how audiences see performance and storytelling on screen.

Gold has cast over 100 projects in her career, but she’s been especially busy lately, handling one of the most discussed castings in years: the new Bond. Not only that, but she has three projects showing at the 34th annual Hamptons International Film Festival this year – Mike Leigh’s Tender Loving Care, Anton Corbijn’s A Talent For Murder and Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri’s Clarissa. Gold has also recently cast Sam Mendes’ quadrant of upcoming Beatles biopics, Slow Horses, Greta Gerwig’s Narnia movie and J.J. Abrams The Great Beyond, to name just a few from the laundry list of her credits this year.

Kate O’Flynn, Marion Bailey and Alice Bailey Johnson in ‘Tender Loving Care’

Thin Man Films

Gold, who was nominated for an Oscar last year for her work on Hamnet, and who won six Emmys for her work on Baby Reindeer, John Adams, Game of Thrones, and The Crown, is being celebrated for casting Tender Loving Care, her ninth collaboration with Leigh. The film stars Widow’s Bay Emmy-winning actress Kate O’Flynn, Alice Bailey Johnson, Marion Bailey and Paul Jesson. It premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and will be released by Bleecker Street on December 4.

A Talent For Murder stars the inimitable Helen Mirren as novelist Patricia Highsmith, alongside Alden Ehrenreich and Olivia Cooke, and Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri’s Clarissa is based on the Virginia Woolf novel Mrs. Dalloway and stars Sophie Okonedo, David Oyelowo, Ayo Edebiri and Toheeb Jimoh.

Alden Ehrenreich and Helen Mirren in ‘A Talent For Murder’

Bleecker Street/LD Entertainment

“I‘m very grateful to the Hamptons Film Festival for this honor,” Gold said. “I am very happy and lucky to have been able to work on so many wonderful films throughout my career, and it means a great deal to be coming to the festival with Tender Loving Care. I have the greatest pride in the work I have done with Mike Leigh and our collaborations over the last thirty years.”

“Nina Gold is one of the most storied and iconic casting directors working today, and we couldn’t think of a more fitting recipient for the inaugural Deadline Disruptor Achievement in Casting Award,” said David Nugent, chief creative officer of HamptonsFilm. “Her instinct for finding the actor who can bring a character to life has shaped some of the most defining films and television of our time, and her influence on the craft of casting is impossible to overstate. We’re honored to celebrate her extraordinary body of work at this year’s festival.”

Sophie Okonedo interview

Sophie Okoneno in ‘Clarissa’

NEON

Ellie Duque, president of Deadline said, “As the voice of the industry, Deadline is thrilled to honor one of its pillars, Nina Gold, who has shaped and elevated the art of bringing a character to life on screen.”

The 34th edition marks a landmark year for HIFF. The festival will present the U.S. IMAX Premiere of Everest: The Other Side, the first time in HIFF’s history that the festival has presented an IMAX screening. This year’s edition will screen more than 140 films, including 7 feature World Premieres and 8 short film World Premieres. HIFF will also host the U.S. Premiere of Bunker, one of 10 U.S. premieres overall at this year’s edition, and, fresh off Telluride and Venice, will present 15 East Coast Premieres, including Elsinore, Wild Horse Nine and The Liberation. The festival has also announced additional Spotlight selections, including Behemoth!, Josephine, Paper Tiger, Tenzing, Sara Bareilles: Good Grief, The Lightkeeper and more.

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Prime Video’s ‘The Challenger’ Limited Series Adds 6 To Recurring Cast

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15 minutes ago

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October 1, 2026

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EXCLUSIVE: The cast of Prime Video‘s The Challenger has grown by six with the addition of Pat Healy (Killers of the Flower Moon, Better Call Saul), Chinaza Uche (Silo, A Good Person), Dave Davis (True Detective, The Walking Dead), Jordan Bridges (Palm Royale), Kevin Isola (Billions, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), and Adam Aalderks (Fire Country, The Menu).

Created by Maggie Cohn and inspired by Meredith E. Bagby’s book The New Guys, the series chronicles the events leading up to the 1986 Challenger disaster, the investigation that followed, and Sally Ride’s (Kristen Stewart) groundbreaking journey as the first American woman in space.

The Challenger disaster was the 1986 explosion of NASA’s eponymous space shuttle shortly after launch, which left all seven crew members dead.

Healy will play Arnie Aldrich. Uche will play Ron McNair. Davis will play Bob Crippen. Bridges will play Jesse Moore. Isola will play Al McDonald. Aalderks will play Robert ‘Hoot’ Gibson.

Will Arnett, who was previously announced, will portray George Abbey, Director of Flight Crew Operations for NASA’s Space Shuttle, who assigned Ride to the crew of 1983’s STS-7. Danny Huston will play William Rogers, who led the investigation into the Challenger explosion; Sofia Black D’Elia as Judy Resnik, the fourth woman to fly in space, who died aboard the Challenger; Paul Sparks as Larry Mulloy, NASA SRB project manager; Boris McGiver as William ‘Bill’ Lucas, NASA official blamed for the Challenger disaster; and Shea Whigham as Roger Boisjoly, a mechanical engineer who strongly opposed the launch of the Challenger.

Most recently, we revealed the addition of William Fichtner as Nobel physicist Richard Feynman, with Kevin Carroll as his fellow physicist, Professor Arthur Walker. Eric Lange portrays Gen. Donald Kutyna (of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident), with Adelaide Clemens as NASA astronaut Rhea Seddon, Louisa Jacobson as Tam O’Shaughnessy (partner of Kristen Stewart’s astronaut and physicist Sally Ride), and Hunter Burke as astronaut Steve Hawley.

The Challenger is from Big Swing Productions, Amblin Television, and Nevermind Pictures. James Hawes (Slow Horses, Black Mirror) directs and executive produces. Cohn is writer, executive producer, and showrunner. Also executive producing are Kyra Sedgwick and Valerie Stadler for Big Swing Productions; Bagby; Stewart, Dylan Meyer, and Maggie McLean for Nevermind Pictures; and Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey for Amblin Television.

Healy is repped by Gersh & Luber Roklin. Uche is repped by Authentic Talent and Literary Management, Independent Talent Group, and Peikoff/Mahan. Davis is repped by Linden Entertainment, Artium Talent, and Formation Talent. Bridges is repped by Buchwald and MJ Management. Isola is repped by TalentWorks. Aalderks is repped by Alexander White Agency and CESD.

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