Actress and filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal complained about a lack of female directors at the Venice Film Festival after directing one of this year’s biggest bombs. “I guess it’s finally become clear that men make better movies than women do,” she said.
“There’s a systemic problem. It’s harder for women to get films financed,” Gyllenhaal said during a press conference at the Venice Film Festival, responding to a question about the lack of female directors in this year’s competition lineup, according to a report by Variety.
“Could it be possible that women, having had a different experience of being alive in the world, want to make movies [that] are not always deemed high art? Who decides what’s good? Who decides what is valuable?” Gyllenhaal wondered aloud.
Notably, only one film competing for the Golden Lion — the drama Woman Unknown by Danish-Egyptian director May el-Toukhy — was directed solely by a woman.
“I guess it’s finally become clear that men make better movies than women do,” Gyllenhaal — the filmmaker of The Bride!, which bombed at the box office — said with a straight face.
Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera reportedly chimed in, noting that Naza — a documentary co-directed by No Other Land filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor — was added to the competition lineup shortly before the film festival.
During the press conference, Gyllenhall — who is the jury president for the 83rd Venice Film Festival — also commented that it was significant for her to be chosen as head of the main, seven-member competition committee.
Before the jury press conference, there was reportedly talk of the Venice Film Festival not hosting it at all due to “scheduling issues.”
But the film festival ultimately reinstated the press conference after backlash from critics who surmised it was being axed in order to shield jury members from being questioned about politics.
Earlier this year, Michelle Yeoh and Neil Patrick Harris made headlines at the Berlin Film Festival when they avoided making political statements despite pressure from left-wing journalists.
A day prior, the film festival’s jury head, Wim Wenders, responded to questions at a press conference involving political issues by stressing that filmmakers “have to stay out of politics.”
As expected, questions about political issues arose during this year’s Venice Film Festival jury press conference.
“Look, we could say, how are we possibly here talking about movies right now when the world is in a state of emergency?” Gyllenhaal remarked. “To me, the answer has something to do with empathy.”
“I think that film allows an opening into an opportunity to find empathy inside of ourselves,” she added. “I think we can challenge ourselves to hear stories about the most corrupt, most perverse people because it opens up the opportunity to find empathy for those people.”
Alana Mastrangelo-Wrask is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.