Venice jury chair decries film industry's 'systemic problem' with sexism

Maggie Gyllenhaal, chair of the jury at the Venice Film Festival, said the film industry has a "systemic problem" with sexism, explaining why only two films directed by women are in competition for the Golden Lion, according to the Guardian.

Speaking at the festival's opening on Wednesday, the actor-director addressed the disparity head-on, attributing the low representation not to individual choices but to a structural failure that persists across the industry. Her comments came as the 83rd edition of the festival, which opened with Danny Boyle's 'Ink,' sets the tone for a programme that the world's press is scrutinising for its gender balance.

For Sicily, a region whose own cinematic heritage — from the neorealist classics to the contemporary works screened in Taormina and Palermo — has often mirrored the national industry's uneven record, Gyllenhaal's remarks resonate beyond the Lido. The festival's platform, watched across the Mediterranean, amplifies questions about who gets to tell stories and whose perspectives are deemed worthy of the highest honours.