Cannes, May 8 (IANS) Actress Cate Blanchett, jury president for the 71st Cannes Film Festival here, touched upon the conversation about women in Hollywood, saying it will take some time for change to ensue.
“For profound lasting change to occur, it needs to take place through specific actions,” Blanchett said at a press conference here on Tuesday, reported variety.com.
“It’s addressing the gender gap and the racial diversity and the equality and the way we make our work. Of course that’s going on in our industry. But you know, is it going to have a direct impact on the film in competition this year, six nine months on? Not specifically.
“There are several women in competition. They are not there because of their gender. They are there because of the quality of their work. We will assess them as filmmakers, as we should be,” she added.
Blanchett said she would “absolutely” want to see more women in competition at the annual gala.
“Do I think it will happen more in the future? I hope so,” she added.
The other members of the jury include Kristen Stewart and Ava DuVernay, Denis Villeneuve, French actress Lea Seydoux, Taiwanese actor Chang Chen, Burundian singer Khadja Nin, French writer Robert Guediguian and Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev.
The film festival will kick off on Tuesday night with the premiere of Asghar Farhadi’s “Everybody Knows,” starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. It will conclude on May 19.