Gyllenhaal Criticizes Venice Festival's Male-Dominated Lineup

Maggie Gyllenhaal, the jury president for the 83rd Venice Film Festival, criticized the event's male-dominated competition lineup on Wednesday, calling the lack of female directors a "systemic problem" in the film industry. Speaking at the festival's opening press conference, Gyllenhaal questioned why only two of the 21 films competing for the top Golden Lion prize were directed or co-directed by women. The festival's main competition initially included just one film by a female director, May el-Toukhy's "Woman Unknown." The lineup was later expanded to include "NAZA," a documentary co-directed by Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham, bringing the total to two. This represents a significant drop from the previous year, which featured six female-directed competition titles. "It's a systemic problem. It's much harder for women to get their films financed," Gyllenhaal told reporters.