The controversial inclusion of Roman Polanski in the 76th Venice film festival and the event’s poor record on female representation dominated the event’s first day as jury members clashed over the issue of gender quotas.

At the opening press conference, Alberto Barbera – the outspoken director of the festival who is stepping down next year – said he was convinced he had made the correct choice to include Polanski despite the film-maker’s conviction for raping a 13-year-old girl in 1978.

“The history of art is full of artists who committed crimes but we have continued to admire their works of art and the same is true of Polanski,” said Barbera. “He is, in my opinion, one of the last masters in European cinema. We cannot wait 200 years to decide whether his films are great or easily forgotten, an aesthetic judgment needs to be passed at once.”

Barbera added that he is not a “court judge” who has to say whether a man has to go to jail, saying he “only [has] the right to say whether or not a film should be in a festival or not”. He had previously compared Polanski to Caravaggio, the 17th-century artist who is thought to have murdered a love rival, saying he “was a killer, but one of the major painters of the Italian baroque period. It’s not so different.”

Lucrecia Martel, the president of the international jury at Venice, agreed that Polanski’s new film, An Officer and a Spy, should be included, although she disagreed with Barbera on the issue of introducing gender quotas at the festival. The lack of female directors in the main 21 entries – the only films directed by women come from Saudi director Haifaa Al Mansour (The Perfect Candidate) and Shannon Murphy (Babyteeth) – has been criticised, with Venice lagging behind other major festivals such as Cannes and Toronto.

“Quotas are never satisfactory,” said Martel. “But there are no other solutions to guarantee the inclusion of women or give them the position they deserve.”

Asked the same question Barbera said he is “fully against the idea of quotas for the selection of a film festival”, adding that it would “be offensive because it goes against the only criterion that we have to consider, which is the quality of the film”.

Quick Guide 10 key films at the Venice film festival Show The Truth

Venice’s opening night spot goes to the latest film by Hirokazu Kore-eda, whose Shoplifters won top prize at Cannes last year. Catherine Deneuve plays an ailing French star who returns home for a tricky reconciliation with daughter Juliette Binoche, accompanied by her husband (Ethan Hawke) and young child. Joker

Joaquin Phoenix is the cracked aspirant comedian in this drama from Todd Philips that’s reportedly 80% King of Comedy to 20% The Dark Knight. Robert De Niro co-stars in what could well be the first comic book movie to bag a best picture Oscar. Marriage Story

Noah Baumbach’s latest is the story of a cross-coastal divorce starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson. Like his most recent film, The Meyerowitz Stories, this has been bankrolled by Netflix. Laura Dern, Alan Alda and Ray Liotta co-star as loved ones – and lawyers. The King

Man of the moment Timothée Chalamet is Henry V in this lush, tough Shakespeare adaptation from David Michôd. Ben Mendelsohn is Henry’s father; Robert Pattinson, Joel Edgerton and Chalamet’s girlfriend, Lily-Rose Depp, offer support. The Laundromat

Meryl Streep leads Steven Soderbergh’s fictionalised take on the Panama Papers leak. Streep and Soderbergh are sailing to Europe on the Queen Mary 2, shooting another feature en route. Seberg

Kristen Stewart plays Jean Seberg in this biopic focusing on the actor’s years as an FBI target on account of her support for the Black Panther party – taking a role which Stewart’s mentor, Jodie Foster, first considered playing in 1991. An Officer and a Spy

A controversial slice of history – the Dreyfus affair – is brought to the big screen by a controversial director: Roman Polanski. Starring Jean Dujardin, it is based on the book by Robert Harris. The Perfect Candidate

Saudi Arabian director Haifaa Al-Mansour – one of only two women with films in competition – returns after the success of 2012’s Wadjda with the tale of a young doctor who makes a bid for office in a municipal election. Ad Astra

Brad Pitt follows in the footsteps of Sandra Bullock, Ryan Gosling and Matt Damon by heading into space in search of awards. James Gray’s drama will be a major player at Venice; Liv Tyler, Tommy Lee Jones and Ruth Negga co-star. American Skin

Nate Parker’s slavery epic Birth of a Nation won raves in 2016 before allegations of sexual misconduct by Parker took the shine off considerably. His belated return is a revenge drama about a janitor whose son is killed by a police officer.

The two then debated the issue, with Martel asking Barbera whether he thought that by introducing a 50/50 gender rule, Venice could trigger a change across the film industry. “Can I ask Mr Barbera, just imagine a situation where we have to have a 50/50. Would the quality decrease? Or would it lead to a change in the industry? Perhaps it would be too bad if we were to implement an experiment like this?”

Barbera responded by saying that 23% of the films the jury considered for selection were directed by women and that until that number increased, it would be difficult to get near 50/50. He admitted that the fact that the buildup to the festival has been dominated by the gender debate had been “a little bit damaging”, and said he hoped he was “exempt from any prejudice” when selecting films for Venice.

The festival opened on Wednesday morning with Hirokazu Kore-eda’s first non-Japanese language film, The Truth, the story of an ageing French actor, played by Catherine Deneuve, who is coming to terms with her past and its impact on her daughter (Juliette Binoche) and her daughter’s husband (Ethan Hawke).

Thursday sees the premieres of James Gray’s space epic Ad Astra and Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story, which is gathering Oscar buzz for lead actors Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, and is the first of three films that Netflix is showing in Venice.