CÉLINE SCIAMMA

Writer and director Céline Sciamma started a movement—unintentionally. Her lm Portrait of a Lady on Fire brought back discussion of the female gaze and how it had been explored by a male-dominated cinematic history. The movie inspired a generation of young women who raise signs at French feminist marches that say, “We Are the Girls on Fire.” As an out lesbian, Sciamma has never been afraid to criticize the current state of French lm and television, acknowledging it is very white, male, and bourgeois.

This is why Sciamma, along with others including actresses Léa Seydoux and Lily Rose Depp, backed the 50/50 campaign, which aims to achieve gender parity in the industry. This has caused many industry traditionalists to side-eye her accomplishments. This was evident when she told The Guardian about how the French press reacted to Portrait. “In France, they don’t nd the lm hot,” says Sciamma matter-of-factly. “[They think] it lacks esh, it’s not erotic. It seems like there are some things that they can’t receive.”

Her contempt for the status quo came to a head at the 2020 Cèsar Awards at which Roman Polanski—who had been convicted of sexual abuse in the United States in the 1970s—won the Cèsar award for best director.

She left the ceremony in protest with actors Adèle Haenel, Noèmie Merlant, Aïssa Maïga and others. It validated everything she had been saying about the industry’s desire to keep its head in the sand. But now it’s out for the world to see. While change is slowly creeping through in France, none of the naysayers have stopped her from putting queer ideals and women at the forefront of the stories she chooses to tell.