Nicole Kidman laments ‘incredibly low’ number of women-directed films

AFP | Los Angeles

Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

Australian megastar Nicole Kidman expressed disappointment Sunday over the “incredibly low” number of successful films directed by women, despite ongoing efforts to support and mentor female-led projects.

Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival as she received the Kering Women in Motion award, Kidman highlighted the persistent gender gap in the film industry.

"The number of women-made films among the highest-grossing is incredibly low," she said.

In 2017, Kidman pledged to work with at least one female director every 18 months, citing a lack of choice at the time.

“You would go, ‘OK, could a woman direct this?’ There just wasn’t a number of names that you could consider,” she noted.

Since then, the Oscar-winning actress has collaborated with 27 female directors—far exceeding her original pledge, averaging one every 3.5 months.

Of the 22 films competing in Cannes’ main competition this year, only seven are directed by women.

Kidman also praised Mascha Schilinski’s “The Sound of Falling,” a German-language drama exploring intergenerational trauma among women on a farm. The film has emerged as an early critics' favourite.

“To have Sound of Falling heard on the world stage—that’s fantastic,” she said.

While Kidman ruled out writing a full script herself, she revealed that she often wakes up at 3:00 a.m. to write personal reflections.

“It’s a very ripe time for things to happen because you’re in that slightly removed state from reality,” she explained. “I wake up and I’ll write something—be it a dream, or something circulating in my mind.”