Venice Film Festival Drops to One Female Director in Competition
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- Venice Film Festival selected only one female-directed film, May El-Toukhy’s 'Woman Unknown,' for its 20-title main competition, a steep drop from six women in 2024.
- Alberto Barbera curated both the main competition and Horizons section, where 42% of films are directed by women, including Rubaiyat Hossain and Alina Marazzi, some of whom were considered for competition promotion.
- Venice Days, an independently run sidebar, will feature 14 female-directed films out of 25, giving women a majority in that section, which opens with Lili Horvát’s 'My Notes on Mars.'
- May El-Toukhy returns with 'Woman Unknown,' a drama about a housemaid marrying her wealthy employer, following her Sundance-winning film 'Queen of Hearts.'
- Female directors have won major awards at Venice in four of the past five years, including Golden Lions for Audrey Diwan, Laura Poitras, and Maura Delpero, suggesting competitive strength despite underrepresentation.
Why it matters: The festival’s drop to one woman in competition—despite multiple qualified female filmmakers in other sections—highlights a disparity in curatorial prioritization. With Barbera rejecting quotas but overseeing both balanced and imbalanced lineups, the decision reflects editorial judgment, not submission gaps, affecting how gender equity is materially enforced at top festivals.
