This past week, filmmaker Jane Campion was honored at Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland with the Palme d’Onore Manor , awarded to the most outstanding personalities in cinema. As reported on by Deadline , while there, she acknowledged the shift she believes has taken place since “ Barbie ” smashed box office records , becoming the first female-directed film to gross over a billion dollars. “That’s fantastic,” she said.
“For once, we have a film that’s not about Marvel characters, but a humorous and very creative take on the Barbie and Mattel story. And [writer/director Greta Gerwig] is the first woman who has made a historical bundle out of it. It meant women can be trusted with money, finally.
” Earlier, Campion discussed her own struggle being one of few female directors actually being recognized in the world of cinema. She brought up a photo taken in 2017 of past Palme d’Or winners and her being the only female surrounded by a field of men, despite it being 24 years since she’d won hers for “The Piano.” “Visually, it was a shock.
I think if there were no women there, you wouldn’t even have noticed,” Campion said. “Oh, women don’t make films! But the fact there was one: you went ‘where are all the others?’ And the guys — the other directors — seemed embarrassed; we all felt something was wrong. But it’s all about power and money.
At the time, it was tough. There was a feeling that women and what they were interested in was not.