Jessica Chastain served as a jury member at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and has some harsh words to share about filmdom’s depictions of women after watching the films entered in this year’s competition.
“This is the first time I watched 20 films in 10 days, and I love movies, and the one thing I really took away from this experience is how the world views women,” said Chastain during a press conference following the festival’s closing ceremony.
“It was quite disturbing to me, to be honest,” she added. “There are some exceptions. For the most part, I was surprised with the representation of female characters on screen in these films.”
The solution to improving this, she feels, lies with increasing opportunities for female directors. “I do hope that when we include more female storytellers, we will have more women that I recognize in my day-to-day life,” she explained. “Ones who are pro-active, have their own agencies, just don’t react to the men around them. They have their own point-of-view.” Watch:
