Last week the Cannes Film Festival announced the features vying for this year's Palme d'Or, arguably international cinema's most acclaimed mantlepiece accessory. Amongst the 18 films in main competition there are two works directed by women - Still the Water (Naomi Kawase) and Le Meraviglie (Alice Rohrwacher).
Jane Campion, the only female director ever to have won the Palme d'Or, currently presides over the main jury.
.Despite declaring at the official press announcement in Paris last Thursday that "usually I don't mention the number (of films directed by women)," festival director Thierry Fremaux went out of his way to highlight that 15 of the 49 films selected across the various festival strands are directed by women (most in Un Certain Regard). Not bad when compared with last year's six but still some way off nearing gender parity. Still, it seems the understandable furore over recent years' lack of women has finally registered with the festival hierarchy.