Female Crew Members Are Still Under-Represented in French Film Industry

Despite significant wins at major film festivals and policies enforced by the National Film Board (CNC) aimed at boosting female representation behind the camera, male crew members still dominate the French film industry.

A study conducted by the org Collectif 50/50 teams on 220 titles released in 2024 shows that the proportion of women in key below-the-line positions has remained mostly stagnant compared with 2023, and only rarely rose.

The only two fields where women lead in terms of representation are costume designers and casting directors with 90% and 80%, respectively.

The org 50/50 says these “jobs are historically perceived as feminine” and are therefore “still overwhelmingly occupied by women. These are followed by editors with 50% of women, set designers with 47% (compared with 41% in 2023), music composers with 12% (compared with 8% in 2023), cinematographers with 13% (compared with 18% in 2023), music composers with 12% and sound engineers with 11%. While modest, the biggest year-on spike was seen in special effects where the number of female heads of department rose from 11% to 17% between 2023 and 2024.

In above-the-line roles, women made up 26% of filmmakers (down two percent on 2023), 27% of producers and 34% of screenwriters (on par with 2023).

The study also reveals that larger budgets are systematically allocated to men, even in fields that are mainly occupied by women. For instance, projects on which men are tapped as costume designers have 27% more budget, and projects on which women work as cinematographers and music composers have budgets 38% and 27% lower, respectively.

The National Film Board has put in place, since 2019, a scheme to incite producers to hire female filmmakers, cinematographers and/or heads of production by giving them a bonus, on top of the regular subsidy that they receive from the CNC. But while the scheme sparked an uptick in female jobs in the first years after it launched, the proportion has since stagnated.

Another recent study, presented by Annenberg’s Dr. Stacy L. Smith and Katherine Pieper, for the 10-year anniversary of Kering’s Women in Motion program showed that the number of women behind the camera had in fact skyrocketed from 8.3% in 2015 to 32.3% in 2024. In the U.S. it went from 8% to 16.2%, and in France it grew from 14.4% to 25.9%.

Aside from these numbers, French female directors have highly visible at prominent film festivals in the last few years, with Julia Ducournau and Justine Triet winning the Palme d’Or, Coralie Fargeat winning best screenplay “The Substance.” This year’s Cannes festival was another strong showcase of female talent. The 78th edition kicked off with Amelie Bonnin’s “Leave One Day,” while Ducournau was back in competition this year with “Alpha,” alongside with Hafsia Herzi‘s “La Petite dernière” which saw rising actor Nadia Melliti receive the best actress award from Juliette Binoche’s jury at Cannes. The festival also played films by Rebecca Zlotowski, “Vie Privée,” playing out of competition, and Josephine Japy’s “The Wonderers” playing in Special Screening.

The Collectif 50/50 has had a crucial role in getting international film festivals to sign a gender parity and diversity pledge starting with Cannes in 2018. As many as 156 festivals have now signed the pledge.