Female directors have gained significant ground in the U.S., U.K. and France since 2015, according to an Annenberg Inclusion Initiative study that was unveiled at an event hosted by Kering to highlight the achievements of its pioneering Women in Motion program.
Francois-Henri Pinault’s luxury group Kering — which will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of its Women in Motion program at this year’s Cannes Film Festival — brought together leading industry figures for a roundtable at its Paris headquarters, notably Cannes president Iris Knobloch, who sat beside Kering’s group chief brand officer Laurent Claquin.
Since its inception, Kering’s Women in Motion program has championed and given a voice to female talent, filmmakers and executives in front and behind the camera, honoring Universal Studios’ Donna Langley, Michelle Yeoh, Salma Hayek, Jane Fonda and Viola Davis, among others.
The study, presented by Annenberg’s Dr. Stacy L. Smith and Katherine Pieper, drew data from 3,240 narrative films made in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the U.S. and the U.K. that grossed at least $1 million globally. It also surveyed the lineups at five top film festivals: Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Sundance and Toronto.
Smith and Pieper also examined talks that have been hosted by Kering’s Women in Motion Program and drew parallels between the concerns that were raised during these conversations and real progress that happened in the filmmaking landscape. In the U.K., the number of women behind the camera skyrocketed from 8.3% in 2015 to 32.3% in 2024. In the U.S. it went from 8% to 16.2%, and in France it grew from 14.4% to 25.9%.
Smith pointed out the industry has become more gender-balanced in the last decade, even if parity has not yet been achieved. The proportion of female protagonists and co-leads has grown from 32% in 2015 to 54% in 2024.
However, the study revealed that there’s still an underrepresentation of female speaking characters overall. Indeed, only 25.3% of the characters in the movies surveyed are women above the age of 40, and only 32% of speaking characters were women.
Change is happening gradually through new financing and programming schemes, the study said. In France, the National Film Board (CNC) created a parity bonus, while in the U.K. the BFI has set inclusion standards on film funding. Screen Australia also bowed a program called Gender Matters and Netflix created a Fund for Creative Equality. Smith also spoke about her Proof of Concept mentorship program, which she launched with Cate Blanchett and Dirty Films producing partner Coco Francini, to bolster career opportunities for women, trans and nonbinary storytellers.
As Smith pointed it out, the last decade has also been marked by an increase in awards recognition for women directors. Chloé Zhao won best film for “Nomadland” in 2021; Justine Triet and Julia Ducournau won Palme d’Or awards at Cannes for “Anatomy of a Fall” and ” Titane,” respectively; Audrey Diwan won Venice’s Golden Lion Award for “Happening”; and Carla Simón won the Golden Bear at Berlin with “Alcarràs.”
The representation of female directors in the five major film festivals, however, is still below 30%, according to the study, while recognition at top awards show such as the Oscars is still insufficient. “The Substance’s” Coralie Fargeat was the sole woman nominated for best director at the Academy Awards this year.
Asked about her concerns over the backlash to DEI efforts in the U.S., Smith said “there’s definitely a chilling effect,” pointing to Amazon which she said “has completely erased their inclusion policy from their website.” But she predicted that Gen Z’s demand for inclusivity will ultimately push companies to recognize the need to represent the world accurately in order to engage these younger audiences.
“The audience will reject it,” Smith said, emphasizing that “338 million people live in the United States and only 77 million people voted in a particular way that doesn’t value inclusion.”
She continued: “The audience dictates these companies choices and so to further court the audience, they will need to continue to lean into what the audience wants. And from box office revenue, it is really clear women and people of color are in the top of the agenda.”
