The issue of having quotas for women seems to have landed with some force in the festival world. Two things need to be said from the start. It’s true there
is a minority of women behind the camera (in some countries, like Japan, their numbers are embarrassing). But selecting a film made by a woman for reasons of principle is not the best way to help bring change to the system. And are we so sure that a film depends only on its director anyway? Asking the question are two films in this year’s programme, written by women and bearing their unmistakable trademark (Ricki and the Flash and Trainwreck). [...]