May el-Toukhy, one of the few female directors competing for the prestigious Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival, has called for a reevaluation of the film industry’s glorification of male directors. She argues that this longstanding reverence contributes to a “structural problem” that hinders the progress of women in filmmaking.
In her critique, the Danish-Egyptian filmmaker noted the absence of recognition for female directors as visionaries. “I’ve never ever read an article where a female director is promoted as a genius,” she stated, highlighting an ongoing disparity in how male and female talents are perceived.