Cannes Jury Is Great for Women

It's no secret that when it comes to the world of cinema, women are often shafted. We talk about this the most when it comes to onscreen talent, but it's a problem, perhaps even more-so, behind the scenes, where according to Women Make Movies, women only comprised about 18 percent of "all directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors working on the top 250 domestic grossing films" in 2012. It's enough to make you want to headdesk so hard you get to spend the rest of your life daydreaming Thelma & Louise. Which is why the Cannes Film Festival jury lineup for this year — featuring the likes of Jane Campion and Sofia Coppola — pleases us so much.

The people on the judging panel for Cannes this year — arguably the most prestigious film festival in the world — are as follows: Campion (New Zealand), Coppola (United States), Gael Garcia Bernal (Mexico), Willem DaFoe (United States), Leila Hatami (Iran), Jia Zhangke (China), Jeon Do-yeon (South Korea), Carole Bouquet (France), and Nicolas Winding Refn (Denmark).

That's five women to four men, the first majority female judging panel Cannes has had since 2009. Campion, for her part, is still the only female director to ever win the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize. She won that for 1993's The Piano. Now, over a decade later, she'll be serving as Jury president.

This comes at a time when Cannes, and its head poncho Thierry Fremaux, has been criticized for the small number of female directors selected for the festival. Having filmmakers such as Campion and Coppola around — two women responsible for three Cannes standouts: The Piano, Virgin Suicides, and Marie Antoinette — certainly eases the sting of that, if only slightly.