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A total of 82 female film professionals linked arms on the steps of the Palais while Cate Blanchett, this year’s jury president, read out an impassioned statement. The numbers were significant.

In the 71 editions of the Cannes Festival, just 82 women have competed for the Palme d’Or. (Do the maths and you’ll conclude that this year’s total of three is significantly above the pitiful average.)

In contrast, 1,866 men have had their films in competition. Kristen Stewart, Marion Cotillard, Ava DuVernay, Léa Seydoux, and Salma Hayek stood on the highest step with Blanchett. “Women are not a minority in the world, yet the current state of the industry says otherwise,” she said.

“As women, we all face our own unique challenges, but we stand together on these stairs today as a symbol of our determination and commitment to progress. We are writers, producers, directors, actresses, cinematographers, talent agents, editors, distributors, sales agents and all involved in the cinematic arts.”

The protest comes after accusations that Cannes has not reacted forcefully enough to the #metoo scandal. A change is gonna come.

This article first appeared as a tweet from David Clarke for the Irish Times. Photo is by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP.

In response to the revelations of harassment in Irish theatre, the #MeToo and #IrishWeinstein hashtags, Amplify Women, an umbrella group that represents, works with or carries out research about women working in the cultural and media industries, has produced a toolkit for dealing with harassment and bullying in the workplace.

Olwen Dawe, Sarah Durcan, Karan O’Loughlin and Sarah Kieran have all been involved in creating the toolkit over the past year and they spoke to Róisín Ingle all about it. LISTEN HERE

Read the Amplify Women’s Harassment Toolkit

This year the union will again light up the roof of Liberty Hall again in rainbow colours to mark the Pride Festival.
The roof will be lit on Friday and Saturday night 10pm – 4am SIPTU LGBTQ, the Young Workers Network and SIPTU allies are marching with the SIPTU LGBTQ Network banner in the Pride Parade on Saturday. Assembly is in the lobby of Liberty Hall leaving the Hall at 12:45pm to head up to the Garden of Remembrance.
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Following the setting up of the Theatre Sub Committee, Equity have decided to recommence the old tradition of visiting actors on the first day of rehearsals. This initiative is designed to increase the profile of the union at live performance venues and to create more face to face time between the members of the union their representatives.

While we have contacted a large number of production companies and venues we are calling on members to let us know what live productions they are becoming involved in so that we can arrange a visit. Members can email this information to equity@siptu.ie. All information provided is confidential to the member and will not be shared with any third party. We will only use the knowledge of the production to arrange a visit without identifying any specific member of the cast.