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Oscar winner Chloe Zhao: Women are still underrepresented in Hollywood
Photo: Stefania D'Alessandro / WireImage
As many women as in 2020 had never directed a film, but given the low level of just 18 percent in the 250 most successful films, applause was not called for at the time.
Especially not in the pandemic year of 2021: The proportion of women directors fell by one percentage point to 17 percent and even more if you look at the 100 most successful films: 16 percent of them were staged by women in 2020; last year it was only 12 percent .
These are the findings of the study "Celluloid Ceiling" from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, which has been carried out since 1998.
The results seem to contradict a current trend, because some women are currently very successful in the US film industry: In 2021 Chloe Zhao won the Oscar for best director for her film "Nomadland" at the Academy Awards this year Jane Campion is considered a favorite with “The Power of the Dog”, and Petty Jenkins (“Wonder Woman 1984”), Cathy Yan (“Birds of Prey”) and Cate Shortland (“Black Widow”) were involved with big event films Top of the charts.
But the study's author, Martha Lauzen, writes: “It is still unclear whether a handful of films show real movement in Hollywood's dealings with women directors, or whether it is a short-term reaction to external pressure.” She points out that the numbers would have changed only marginally in the 22 years in which the study was carried out:
The proportion of women cameramen has remained almost the same: in 1998 it was four percent, in 2021 six percent
In 1998, 13 percent of women writers worked in the US film industry, compared to 17 percent in 2021
The proportion of female editors also improved by only two percent in 2021 from the 1998 figure to 22 percent.
In the area of female producers alone, real progress can be said to have been made, with 32 percent women working here in 2021.
However, the study is faced with problems due to the emergence of streaming services in the evaluation: Films that are produced for corporations such as Netflix cannot be evaluated because they do not disclose any data on the number of views and the films are therefore not on the best lists of the Appear year.
Last year, women like Halle Berry ("Bruised"), Rebecca Hall ("Seitenwechsel") and Maggie Gyllenhaal ("Woman in the Dark") produced strong films for Netflix.
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