May 4th marks the launch of the #SeeHerNow campaign in support of female filmmakers with the launch of the annual Women and Hollywood infographic on women filmmakers in Cannes. The numbers are low. Over the last decade, only 9% of films in the main competition and only 17% of Un Certain Regard have been directed by women. Cannes is a focal point of this campaign because it gets so much media attention. Women make up 50% of the world and in the US, at least, are 50% of the filmgoers. We know that Cannes is not the only problem, but it does illuminate…
Author: Melissa Silverstein
Melissa Silverstein
Melissa Silverstein is the founder and editor of Women and Hollywood. She is the Artistic Director and co-founder of the Athena Film Festival -- A Celebration of Women and Leadership -- at Barnard College in NYC. The fifth annual festival will take place from February 5-8, 2015. Melissa was selected to be a film envoy for the American Film Showcase, the major film diplomacy program of the U.S. Department of State. And she recently published the first book from Women and Hollywood, In Her Voice: Women Directors Talk Directing, which is a compilation of over 40 interviews that have appeared on the site. She has a regular column on Forbes.com, and has written for The Washington Post, NY Times, More Magazine and has been featured on CNN, the BBC as well as in Newsweek, Salon, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, NY Times, and many other publications. She was a contributor to The Tattooed Girl: The Enigma of Stieg Larsson and the Secrets Behind the Most Compelling Thriller of Our Time.