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Maggie Gyllenhaal, head of this year's Venice Film Festival jury, questioned on Wednesday why only two women directors had been selected for the main competition at the Italian festival.
"There's a systemic problem," the American actress turned director told reporters at a press conference on the opening day of the festival, speaking alongside festival director Alberto Barbera.
Gyllenhaal said financing remains harder to secure for women filmmakers and raised broader questions about how artistic value is judged. "I do think it's much harder for women to get their films financed. Also, could it be that the things women, having had a different experience of being alive in the world, want to make movies about are not always deemed high art? Who decides what's good? Who decides what's valuable?"
She added that the question was a legitimate one for the industry to confront.
"Woman Unknown" by Danish-Egyptian director May El-Toukhy was the only woman-directed film among the initial 20 films competing for the festival's top prize, the Golden Lion.
The later addition of "NAZA," a film about Israel's targeting of civilians in Gaza, improved the gender balance slightly, as it is co-directed by Oscar-winning Israeli filmmaker Rachel Szor.
Barbera said the selection had been made without prejudice. At a press conference in July announcing this year's lineup, he said submissions from women directors had not been strong enough to secure spots in the competition, a comment that drew a critical open letter from Italian campaign and industry groups.
Gyllenhaal's remarks appeared to be an implicit criticism of Barbera's choices, though she noted that her own appointment as jury head carried weight given the small number of films she has directed.
"I really am walking in with a question as to why there are so few women in the main competition as filmmakers this year. But I think asking me to be the head of the main jury competition after the two films that I have made is a very important thing to consider too," she said.
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