Film Leaders Call for Structural Reforms to Close Gender Gap on Sets
At the Lumière Summit, top film institutions urged concrete accountability measures to raise women's share in behind-camera roles, citing persistent representation and budget gaps.
A panel titled “Safer Sets, Different Stories: Why Gender Balance Matters” opened the Lumière Summit, where leaders from StudioCanal, Canal+, the British Film Institute, the Berlin International Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival pressed for systemic accountability to improve women’s participation behind the camera. They noted that women hold just 23% of such roles, up from 17% in 1998, and that female directors receive on average 44% of the budgets given to men.
Canal+ pledged an extra €1 million over three years for projects by female writers and directors, while the BFI highlighted its Inclusion Standards and urged co-production partners to adopt common minimums. Berlinale’s data showed a rise from 0% to 40% women directors in competition over two decades, and TIFF reported 35% of its 2026 lineup directed by women. Senegalese filmmaker Angèle Diabang described her free training institute for women technicians, and France’s CNC announced a 2027 bonus-penalty system linking funding to a 40% women-crew threshold. The panel concluded hoping future summits won’t need to revisit the issue.
Why it matters
Greater gender equity in film production can enhance creative diversity and boost industry revenues.
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