The scarcity of women competing for the Venice Film Festival's top prize reflects a structural problem in the film industry, Danish director May El-Toukhy said on Sunday as she unveiled her gritty drama "Woman Unknown."
El-Toukhy is the only woman directing a fiction film among the 21 contenders for the Golden Lion. Just one other competition entry, a documentary, has a female co-director, fueling debate about women's representation in cinema.
"It is a structural problem that I have encountered throughout my own career," the Danish-Egyptian filmmaker told a news conference ahead of the premiere of her latest movie.
"It was very, very hard to get my first film done after graduating from film school. I think it took me six or seven years, whereas my male peers were much faster than me."
Festival director Alberto Barbera has defended this year's line-up, noting that women directed just 24% of submitted films, down from 30% a year earlier, and saying selection decisions were based on artistic quality.
