Female Empowerment In The Spotlight at Cannes

A couple weeks ago we shared news about L’Oréal Paris and their talk show debut at the Cannes Film Festival; however, we didn’t go into detail about the huge impact the talk show is having on female empowerment. L’Oréal, the official Cannes Film Festival makeup partner for two decades, has been at the forefront of female empowerment for over 40 years. The Worth It Show will broadcast on L’Oréal’s official Facebook page from 8:30-9:00pm CEST every night of the Cannes Film Festival.

The talk show focuses on women in the film industry, giving them a voice as well as opening up a discussion about self-image and equality. With the international #MeToo movement, the film industry has seen a lot of changes over the past year which are reflected at this year’s Cannes Festival.

In fact, 82 women protested on one of the festival’s red carpets three nights ago. The very specific number of 82 is significant because that’s the number of female directors that have been selected to compete at Cannes throughout the years. That number pales in comparison to the 1,600+ male directors that have been selected since the Cannes Film Festival began in 1946.

Cate Blanchett, Cannes jury president, and iconic French director Agnes Varda read a statement that began with, “Women are not a minority in the world, yet the current state of our industry says otherwise. As women, we all face our own unique challenges, but we stand together on these stairs today as a symbol of our determination and commitment to progress.”

Luckily their protest made an impact, and Cannes Film Festival has signed a pledge promising to bring more films by female filmmakers to various international festivals. We are so excited about the efforts L’Oréal, the Cannes Film Festival, and all of the strong women in the film industry have made.