Mad Max, Meryl and #MeToo in strong day for women at Cannes
Mad Max' heroine, a Meryl Streep masterclass, a #MeToo figurehead — the Cannes Film Festival showed the progress women have made in cinema on its first full day on Wednesday.
The festival welcomed the world premiere of 'Furiosa', the latest instalment of the post-apocalyptic «Mad Max» franchise, with Anya Taylor-Joy in the no-holds-barred title role playing alongside "Thor" star Chris Hemsworth.
Director George Miller said the action film — featuring his trademark high-octane road battles and visceral stunts — had become «almost a feminist piece» as the saga's story unfolds.
Streep, who was awarded an honorary Palme d'Or at the opening ceremony, shared intimate stories from her career and spoke about the huge progress of women in the industry.
«The biggest stars in the world are women right now,» she said in a talk to festival-goers, pointing out that her early roles were often so memorable «because she was the only woman in the film».
She put the blame on the fact that men had all the power at studios in the past.
«They're living their fantasy and so it was very hard — before there were women in green-light positions at studios — for men to see themselves in women protagonists,» she said. «They just didn't get it.»
The race for the festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or, also started Wednesday with two films that put women's stories centre-stage.
First up are «The Girl with the Needle», billed as the story of a Danish woman running an underground adoption agency after World War I, and «Wild Diamond» about a
