Gender Equality

Ten years ago, at a time when the subject was still underdeveloped, the Festival des Arcs created the Sisley - Les Arcs "Femme de Cinéma" award, to honor each year a particularly emblematic female director of European cinema.

Since its inception, the prize has aimed to create inspirational female role models, while raising awareness among the media, professionals and the general public of the discrimination still faced by women in the world of cinema. Following on from the creation of this award, in 2016, the Festival decided to make a special focus on the new generation of female directors in Europe.

This program was built around 4 axes: the invitation of European women directors to the Festival, the publication of a study on the place of women directors in Europe, two roundtables on the theme of parity in cinema and finally, "think tank cafés", workshops organized with industry professionals to move the industry's lines on inclusion.

The subject proved so sensitive and requiring such in-depth work that the Les Arcs team, in partnership with the Fondation Sisley d'Ornano and the association Le Deuxième Regard (the originators of the Collectif 5050) decided to create the Lab Femmes de cinéma, which is therefore an offshoot of the festival, even if it now has an autonomous, year-round life on these subjects.

It's only natural that Les Arcs Film Festival, which has long been committed to these issues of parity in cinema in general and in Festivals in particular, should officially sign the collective's Charter, in 2019, on the occasion of its 10th anniversary.