Venice film festival: Guillermo del Toro says gender disparity is 'a real problem'

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Venice film festival: Guillermo del Toro says gender disparity is 'a real problem'

By Catherine Shoard

 

Guillermo del Toro says ‘strength and resolve’ are needed to achieve gender parity in the film industry. Photograph: Tony Gentile/Reuters

 

The jury president of the Venice film festival has condemned the gender disparity in the film industry and demanded urgent reform.

 

Speaking on the opening day of the 75th film festival, Guillermo Del Toro said equality must be achieved by the end of the decade. Only one of the 21 films in competition this year has a female director.

 

Asked about the responsibility of film festivals to promote diversity, the Mexican director of Pan’s Labyrinth and the Hobbit trilogy said inclusion goals were essential. “I think the goal has to be clear and has to remain 50:50 by 2020,” said Del Toro, referring to an equality charter launched at Cannes this year.

 

“I think if it’s 50:50 by 2019, [it would be] better. It’s a real problem we have in the culture in general. Many of the voices that should be heard, need to be heard. I believe it’s important that it’s not a matter of establishing a quota … Precisely in this time of the conversation, it’s extremely important to call it out and to question it, and to name it and to make it known.

 

Full Story: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/aug/29/venice-film-festival-guillermo-del-toro-gender-disparity