On Monday night, the New York Film Critics Circle held its annual awards ceremony at TAO in New York. Rose McGowan used it as an opportunity to address the horrible sexism that still plagues the movie industry.
The elephant in the room at some of these award shows seems to be their ongoing failure to acknowledge either people of color or women who should play a bigger role in Hollywood. While accepting an award for Best First Film on behalf of Jennifer Kent for The Babadook, McGowan (who’s currently shooting her directorial debut) expressed some frustration over the lack of opportunities given to female directors.
According to IndieWire, McGowan “kicked off her speech by singling herself and Kent out as part of the paltry six percent of female filmmakers currently working in the industry.” She also called the stats depressing. Part of her speech:
“Let’s give the six percent a shot. ‘Cause that represents 50 percent of the audience, of which I am a member. I am not being served and I am not being heard. I ask you to take up the hand of the female director until we no longer say ‘female director.’ It is a unisex term. I am a director. Jennifer Kent is a director. Let’s do smart, let’s bring it. She did. I think she’s thrown down the gauntlet. When they say, ‘Oh, the box office is down,’ it’s perhaps because we don’t more fucking superhero movies! It’s time. It’s getting a little old and Jennifer is a wonderful, dedicated director and I can’t wait to see what she does next.”
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