Yet if it was just down to unconscious gender bias of voters, the ‘male tales’ that have dominated seem at odds with the high ratio of female members at Bafta, if not the Academy. Steven Gaydos, the executive editor of trade magazine Variety, points out that a film like Little Women has been made many times, both in film and TV. “What if the exclusion factor is that Little Women is a remake of a popular story done many times before – and voters do not take remakes as seriously as they take originals?” he asks.

“Outside of our crazy bubble in Hollywood, people may not realise that marketing specialists are hired to run Oscar campaigns. Now what if, for example, your release timing is bad, or your strategy doesn’t work? What if that’s the reason? Little Women is doing $100m at the box office. Trust me, men are going to see it.”

Ultimately, voters make a decision on the films presented to them. Bafta reports this year that 19% of submitted films were directed by women. According to the 2019 report by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, out of the highest-grossing 250 Hollywood films, only 13% were directed by women.

Limited choice

Georgie Yukiko Donovan, a British-East Asian director, got her first film, Ama, funded by the Female Film Force initiative, but wonders whether the years of disappointment of female filmmakers failing to break through affect the number of awards-season submissions.

“Unless there is real, actionable change, so many women won’t make the effort to submit their films for consideration, because that can also cost money,” she points out. “There’s a practical need for awards. It’s like a stamp of approval that gets you to the next level of filmmaking. Succeed with, say, an award at a film festival and it can be a gamechanger. But it takes money to launch a campaign, so it’s all tied into gender, race, money and class.”

Melissa Silverstein, founder of the website Women and Hollywood, has argued that in the event of future shortlists lacking any diversity, the award in that category should be withdrawn. “Something drastic needs to be done,” she says. “I think it’s also very important to look at how many women are completing and submitting films, and if not, why not?

“It’s true that by working on superhero movies like Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman, women are now entering into some of the highest levels of the business. It’s important to have a woman’s vision into what’s often been a violent-gratification narrative, and these have been predominant stories of our culture. Awards are what the press pay attention to.

“This is a fundamental fight, which isn’t only happening in film, to say that white and male is no longer the default of our world. And so when women’s experiences, and those of people of colour, are repeatedly invalidated in this way – it just becomes a joke.”

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