Exclusive: How Kristen Stewart, Jane Fonda, and 80 Other Women Will Protest Canness Astonishing Gender Gap

Celebrities

On Saturday night, on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival, 82 women intend to make a dramatic statement about how difficult it is to ascend professionally in the film industry.

The group—planned to include actresses like Kirsten Stewart, Jane Fonda, Marion Cotillard, and Salma Hayek, directors such as Patty Jenkins, Ava DuVernay, and Haifaa Al Mansour, agents like CAAs Hylda Queally and Maha Dakhil, and other cinema professionals such as Telluride Film Festival programmer Julie Huntsinger, and journalist Melissa Silverstein—will climb the steps that lead to the festivals Théâtre Debussy, pause and stand motionless and silent facing the Palais. The intention, organizers say, is to express how hard it still is to climb the social and professional ladder as woman in the film industry. Among the women, Cate Blanchett and Agnès Varda will read a statement.

The number of participants is deliberate. Since the launch of the Cannes Film Festival, only 82 films directed by women have been honored by an official selection in competition, compared to 1,645 films directed by men, a ratio of less than five percent. The red carpet statement will unfold ahead of the gala premiere of the only French woman director with a film in competition, Eva Husson, whose movie, Girls of the Sun, is about a Kurdish female battalion.

"I hope this Cannes is going to initiate conversations that we need to have," Husson said, in an interview with Vanity Fair before the festival began. "Its high time. Its healthy. Its scary. Its exploding in the face of a lot of people. The patriarchy has not seen it coming so they feel really threatened by it. Its a huge paradigm shift."

Cannes artistic director Thierry Frémaux alluded to the womens red carpet plans during a press conference on Monday, saying that that a large group of women were going to do something at the festival Saturday, "to affirm their presence." The French gender equality group 50/50 by 2020 and the French directors guild have been working in concert with the festival to plan this event, which requires the use of festival cars to get the women to their red carpet destination.

The activism will continue on Monday at an event on the beach, where the women will ask Frémaux, as well as the artistic directors of the Directors Fortnight and Cannes Critics Week sidebars to the festival to sign a programming pledge for parity and inclusion at Cannes going forward.

"This festival has had a very mixed track record——and thats being generous——related to women, from the starlets who are sent to yachts to meet with rich men to the sexual assaults that have occured during the festival to its continuous lack of opportunities for women in the main competition," said Women and Hollywood founder Melissa Silverstein, who will be among the group on the Palais stairs Saturday night. "That this festival has finally taken note of the huge gender disparity in this business can only help move the dial forward. Im very emotional right now. Ill probably be crying the entire time."

The full list of women who plan to stand Saturday night follows below:

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Agathe Valentin Vendeuse International / International Sales
Agnès Varda Réalisatrice / Director
Agniezka Smoczynska Réalisatrice / Director
Alba Rohrwacher Réalisatrice /Director
Alexandra Henochsberg Distributrice, Productrice / Distributor, Producer
Alice Rohrwacher Réalisatrice / Director
Andréa Bescond Réalisatrice /Director Anja Kofmel Réalisatrice / Director
Anna Mouglalis Actrice / Actress
Anna Ciennik Directrice de Production / Festival Industry/ Manager
Anne Lai Productrice / Producer Anne Berest Scénariste / Scriptwriter
Annemarie Jacir Réalisatrice / Director
Ariane Ascaride Actrice / Actress
Ava DuVernay Réalisatrice / Director
Beatriz Seigner Réalisatrice / Director
Bénédicte Couvreur Productrice / Producer Bérénice Vincent Vendeuse Internationale / Sales Agent Carole Scotta Productrice, Distributrice / Producer, Distributor Caroline Benjo Productrice, Distributrice / Producer, Distributor Caroline Bonmarchand Productrice / Producer
Cécile Cassel Actrice / Actress Cécile Aubert Assistante de Production / Assistant Producer Céline Salette Actrice / Actress
Céline Sciamma Réalisatrice, Scénariste / Director, Scriptwriter
Claudia Cardinale Actrice / Actress
Clémence Poésy Actrice / Actress
Clotilde Courau Actrice / Actress
Cristina Gallego Réalisatrice / Director Daniela Elstner Vendeuse Internationale / Sales Agent
Déborah François Actrice / Actress
Delphyne Besse Vendeuse Internationale / Sales Agent
Diana Elbaum Productrice / Producer
Dina Emam Productrice / Producer Elisabeth Tanner Agent Artistique / Talent Agent
Elisabeth Perez Productrice / Productrice Eva Sangiorgi Programmatrice / Programmer Géraldine Pailhas Actrice / Actress
Ginevra Elkann Productrice / Producer
Haifaa Al Mansour Réalisatrice / Director
Houda Benyamina Réalisatrice / Director
Hylda Queally Agent Artistique / Talent Agent Iris Brey Journaliste / Journalist
Isabel Mercier Productrice / Producer
Jane Fonda Actrice / Actress Jasmine Trinca Actrice / Actress
Jeanne Lapoirie Directrice de la Photographie / Cinematographer
Judith Nora Productrice / Producer
Julie Huntsinger Productrice / Producer Julie Gayet Productrice, Actrice / Producer, Actress
Julie Billy Productrice / Producer
Julie Bertucelli Réalisatrice / Director
Keleigh Thomas Morgan Agent Artistique / Talent Agent
Khadja Nin Musienne, Chanteuse / Musician, Singer Kim Longinotto Réalisatrice / Director
Kiska Higgs Productrice / Producer Kirsten Stewart Actrice / Actress
Laure Parleani Vendeuse internationale / Sales Agent
Laurence Lascary Productrice / Producer Léa Seydoux Actrice / Actress
Leïla Bekhti Actrice / Actress
Lisa Azuelos Réalisatrice, Productrice / Director, Producer
Lolita Chammah Actrice / Actress Maha Dakhil Agent Artistique / Talent Agent
Mariana Ximenes Actrice / Actress Marianne Slot Productrice / Producer
Marie Masmonteil Productrice / Producer Marie Monge Réalisatrice / Director Marie Amachoukeli Réalisatrice, Scénariste / Director, Scriptwriter Marie-Ange Luciani Productrice / Producer
Marie-Pierre Macia Productrice / Producer
Marion Cotillard Actrice / Actress Marion Tharaud Distributrice / Distributor Marleyda Soto Actrice / Actress Melissa Silverstein Journaliste / Journalist
Mélita Toscan du Plantier Productrice / Producer
Meryem Benm'Barek Réalisatrice / Director
Michèle Halberstadt Productrice, Distributrice / Producer, Distributor
Nandita Das Réalisatrice / Director
Naomi Denamur Responsable Acquisitions / Acquisition Manager
Patty Jenkins Réalisatrice / Director
Pauline Gygax Productrice / Producer Priscilla Bertin Productrice / Producer
Rasika Dugal Actrice /Actress
Rebecca Zlotowski Réalisatrice, Scénariste / Director, Scriptwriter Rohena Gera Réalisatrice / Director
Rosalie Varda Costumière, Productrice / Costume Designer, Producer
Salma Hayek Actrice, Productrice / Actress, Producer
Sandrine Brauer Productrice/ Producer
Sofia Boutella Actrice / Actress
Sophie Reine Chef Monteuse / Editor
Sophie Mas Productrice / Producer Stacey Martin Actrice / Actress
Tonie Marshall Réalisatrice / Director
Ursula Meier Réalisatrice / Director Valentina Novati Productrice, Distributrice / Producer, Distributor
Valérie Donzelli Réalisatrice, Productrice, Actrice / Director, Producer, Actress
Vanessa Filho Réalisatrice / Director
Virginie Ledoyen Actrice / Actress Wanuri Kahiu Réalisatrice / Director
Zabou Breitman Réalisatrice, Actrice / Director, Actress

Rebecca KeeganRebecca Keegan is a Hollywood Correspondent for Vanity Fair.

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