Danish-Egyptian director May el-Toukhy warned at the 2026 Venice Film Festival that a persistent cult of male genius continues to suppress female filmmakers. Her post-World War II period drama Woman Unknown
is one of only two competition films directed by women at the festival.
The enduring perception of artistic greatness as an exclusively male domain remains a systemic barrier keeping down female film-makers, according to director May el-Toukhy. Speaking at a press conference on Sunday ahead of the premiere of her latest feature at the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival, el-Toukhy pointed to deep-seated industry patterns that disproportionately reward male creators while sidelining women.
I’ve never ever read an article where a female director is promoted as a genius,
el-Toukhy told reporters. It’s not that I think I am one, but it’s just interesting that this is so systemic. All of us are responsible for changing that discourse.
Representation Battles at the 2026 Venice Film Festival
When Venice organizers announced their initial lineup in July, el-Toukhy’s historical drama stood out as the sole film directed by a woman in the main competition for the Golden Lion. Festival directors subsequently added the documentary NAZA, which is co-directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, lifting the total number of competition films with female directorial leadership to two. Competing veterans on the Lido include established male auteurs such as Werner Herzog, Paul Schrader, Nanni Moretti, Martin McDonagh, and Danny Boyle.
El-Toukhy’s period drama was the only film by a woman in the main competition when the line-up was announced in July, and since then the festival directors have added the documentary NAZA, which is co-directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.
Maggie Gyllenhaal, who serves as president of this year’s main competition jury and released her second directorial effort, The Bride!
earlier in 2026, echoed those concerns publicly during the event. Gyllenhaal called the gender imbalance a systemic problem and noted that securing financing remains significantly harder for women. She also questioned institutional definitions of excellence, asking who decides what qualifies as high art.
Financing Hurdles and the Post-MeToo Landscape
El-Toukhy described structural obstacles that hampered her own career trajectory after film school. While her male peers advanced rapidly, it took her six or seven years to complete her first feature film.
After MeToo, all of us were really aware of this gender imbalance,
el-Toukhy said. Something has happened over the course of the last couple of years, but we’re kind of returning to what it used to be.
Other major European showcases display varying degrees of progress. At Cannes, five of 22 main competition entries were directed by women, while the Berlinale featured female filmmakers in seven out of 17 slots.
Data Versus Perceived Artistic Quality
Stacy L. Smith, associate professor at USC Annenberg and founder of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, points to critical reception data demonstrating parity between genders.
“If we’re looking at the average score, almost identical, women are at 57.6%, men are at 55.6%. So when it comes to quality, there is no difference now.”
Stacy L. Smith, USC Annenberg
Martha M. Lauzen, executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, noted that programmers operating under the assumption of neutrality are ignoring human subjectivity. ‘Quality’ and ‘greatness’ are social constructions that are loaded with personal preferences and institutional biases,
Lauzen observed.
Meanwhile, festivals such as the Toronto International Film Festival provide stark contrasts to Venice’s figures, with more than two-thirds of its TIFF Docs lineup directed by women and Siân Heder’s Being Heumann
serving as opening night selection.
Historical Silence and the Themes of Woman Unknown
El-Toukhy’s new feature, which follows her 2019 Nordic Council film prize winner Queen of Hearts
, explores the immediate aftermath of the Nazi occupation in Denmark. The narrative centers on a young housemaid named Marie, played by Mathilde Arcel, who prepares to marry her widowed employer while hiding an intimate wartime relationship with a German soldier.
The project developed out of historical research regarding the postwar targeting of female horizontal collaborators and the societal perception that female bodies functioned as national territory during wartime. El-Toukhy noted that the project speaks directly to the invisibility of women.
“My film is about the invisibility of women. It’s about being objectified on one hand, and on the other hand being unseen and voiceless.”
May el-Toukhy, Director
Продолжение темы
