Woman, man, film - does Cannes have something to make up for?

Tonight, the 67th edition of the Cannes Film Festival opens with Grace of Monaco, a biopic with a major lead role for Nicole Kidman. Jury president of the world's premier film event is New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion. Three of the other six jury members also his women. Does Cannes have something to make up for?

There was some fuss in 2012 when the feminist group La Barbe denounced the fact that all the films in that year's main competition appeared to be made by men. Note also that current jury president Campion is the only woman to ever win the Golden Palm (in 1993, for The Piano).

Is Cannes really so single-minded, or is there more to it? The website boxofficemojo.com is a rich source of informative lists. We click on this year's list of highest-earning films for fun. Top scorer so far is Anthony and Joe Russo's Captain America: The Winter Solder. The other titles in this top ten are also directed by men. Scouring the list further - a sadly depressing feat - we only come across a film directed by a woman in 36th place. Shana Feste's romantic drama Endless love.

A better-known example of one of very few women playing a full role in this man's world is Kathryn Bigelow. Two years ago, she received high praise for Zero Dark Thirty, the impressive film adaptation of the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

Whether there is a connection is difficult to say at first glance. What we do see is that in America, the gap between the more serious and artistic films and the big blockbusters is widening. A trend that is certainly not from the last few years. Make the boys go to the cinema, then the girls will automatically come along, often seems to be the thought.

That's America. About Dutch cinema, I wrote in 2010 in an optimistic mood: 'women are leading the way'. Mijke de Jong, Esther Rots, Eugenie Jansen, Urszula Antoniak and Simone van Dusseldorp were some of the names I had in mind then. In 2014, three of the five Dutch feature-length films selected for Berlin were of female signature. Above Us All (Eugenie Jansen), Last Hijack (Femke Wolting and Tommy Pallotta) and Supernova (Tamar van den Dop).

Looking at Dutch cinema attendance, however, some modesty is appropriate. In the (American-dominated) top ten of 2013, only Frozen has a female (co)director: Jennifer Lee. Among Dutch films, the picture is slightly more favourable. Three of the ten best-attended titles (Soof, Mees Kees op kamp and Smoorverliefd) are female-directed.

Now, of course, half an hour of turfing can hardly be called a serious study. The British Film Institute (BFI) did conduct such a thing, as described in, among others The Guardian.

Of independently produced British films in 2010-2012, 11 per cent were directed by women. Another, more US-focused study by the Centre for the Study of Women in Television and Film comes up with similar figures. Of all the people working behind the camera in the film industry, 16% are women.

Looking at the 250 highest-grossing films, we see that the female share (16% in 2013) is at its last level since 1998, the trade magazine Screen International adds.

It's not just Cannes, and not much has changed there since the 2012 protest year either. Although last year's Golden Palm went to the beautiful lesbian love drama La vie d'Adèle, its director was a man. The only woman with a film in the 2013 main competition was Valeria Bruni Tedeschi with Un château en Italie. This year, two women are competing for the Golden Palm. Naomi Kawase with Still Water and Alice Rohrwacher with Le Meraviglie. Two out of eighteen, perhaps you could call it progress.