Eighty-two women working in the film industry protested on the Cannes Film Festival red carpet last Saturday in a statement on how few films directed by women have been prize contenders at Cannes since 1946 (the number is 82 movies, compared to 1,645 movies directed by male directors).

The group included Cate Blanchett, the president of the festival jury this year, as well as other members of the jury: the actresses Kristen Stewart and Léa Seydoux, the filmmaker Ava DuVernay, and the singer Khadja Nin.

“Women are not a minority in the world, and yet our industry says the opposite,” said Agnes Varda, a French filmmaker, of the protesters’ concerns. “We want this to change.”