Screen International serves as a stark reminder of the progress that the film industry still has to make in embracing diversity. The film mag and blog surveyed the main international competitions of the 14 A-category festivals that held an edition in 2018, 2019, and 2021 (accounting for the fact that many didn’t take place in 2020 due to COVID-19), and the results paint a damning picture: in 2018, only two of 236 directors (0.85 percent) to work on the competition films were Black; with that number at two of 233 (0.86 percent) in 2019, and six of 242 (2.48 percent) in 2021. That’s a total of 10 out 711 directors or 1.4 percent.
“No Black director has appeared twice in the main competition at any of the festivals across this time,” Screen Daily details. “Nine of the 14 A-class festivals haven’t programmed any Black directors in their main competition section across the past three years.” Venice and the Berlinale are among the fests that screened zero films by Black directors in main competition across the three years.
Mati Diop was one of the few Black directors to screen in a main contest. She made history as the first Black woman to have a film in Cannes’ main competition with “Atlantics,” her debut feature.
Screen Daily also examined the representations of Asian, Arab and female directors in the main competitions for major fests. “The number of films directed by women in main competition at the major festivals has increased across these three years, from 41 in 2018 (18.14%), to 48 in 2019 (21.52%) and 56 in 2021 (25.34%),” the source details. “For Arab directors, the number of films has increased slightly, from 16 in 2018 (7.08%) to 17 in 2019 (7.62%) and 19 in 2021 (8.60%). For Asian directors, 2018 saw 37 titles (16.37%), with a marked increase in 2019 to 47 (21.08%), and a decrease for 2021 to 38 (17.19%).”
Screen Daily has more information on the study.
Source: Women And Hollywood