On the occasion of the Cannes Film Festival, a meeting place for French and international cinema in France, the members of the Femmes à la caméra / Women with a movie camera collective maintain their wishes for : more and more diversity of representation and more parity in technical teams.
The collective is listening to the recent cases and opinion pages relayed in the media. It is precious for that bleakness and exasperation to be voiced, and it is urgent to strengthen our fight against violence and abuse by:
continuing training of employees and employers in their rights and duties,
supporting the victims,
encouraging people to address the CCHSCT (Central Committee on Health, Safety and Working Conditions for Film Production) and health and safety inspection.
To accompany change, it is also important to be able to rely on informed and firm positions taken by the financing and distribution chains (festivals included) regarding the shooting conditions of the films they support or select. While festival decision-makers do not have to replace the law, they must be aware of the signals they are sending. Today it seems that the conditions under which the films are made or the discourse they invoke doesn't make much difference to gain their place on the international market. Cinema must be exemplary if it is to retain its value in the eyes of the public.
We no longer want to lose a talented actress to a traumatic filming experience, we no longer want an all-powerful artist imposing degraded working conditions, we no longer want unfair treatment of complaints, we do not want respect for the law to be conditioned by a ratio of power, we think that it is possible to make great films while respecting those involved in their manufacture, and we hope that this year, chats on the Croisette will gain in intelligence what they will lose (perhaps) in casualness.
