Last night, 82 female filmmakers appeared on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival to protest gender inequality in cinema. The 82 women symbolized the number of films by female directors screened at the Fest since its inception; a far cry from the 1688 films by male directors. As Cate Blanchett, president of the festival jury stated, "Women are not a minority in the world, yet the current state of our industry says otherwise." French director Agnes Varda addressed the crowd in her native tongue. Ava DuVernay, Patty Jenkins, Salma Hayek, and Marion Cottillard were some of the other prominent women lending their support.
