Yes, she Cannes!

Fest organizers aim for equality in #MeToo era

One hundred women will grace the Cannes Film Festival red carpet on Saturday as a symbolic show of strength.

A-listers, filmmakers and festival representatives will take to the famous Cannes carpet for part of a symbolic gesture to “affirm their presence,” says event boss Thierry Fremaux.

He and other executives behind the annual movie gathering, held on the French Riviera, are planning to make this year’s event a female-friendly one, setting up a telephone hotline for victims of sexual harassment and abuse to report their experiences.

“We want to keep pace with a world that’s changing,” Fremaux said during an impromptu news conference earlier this week. “It isn’t just the Cannes Film Festival that’s going to change. The whole world has changed.”

Cannes’ efforts to be more gender inclusive include improving the male-to-female ratios on selection committees, installing more women into the role of jury president and selecting more films directed by women for competition.

Fremaux’s plan is off to a solid start in the festival’s 71st year, with actress Cate Blanchett serving as jury president at the event.

However, only three of the 21 films in competition for the Palme d’Or prize have been directed by females — and only one woman, Jane Campion, has ever earned the Palme d’Or trophy.