“ There ’s no such affair as a career , there ’s only what you do next ”
Cannes Film Festival is back for another incredible year of film, premiering directorial debuts from the likes of Harris Dickinson to veterans like Spike Lee. The festival is a true celebration of film, but also a reminder of how much work is yet to be done behind the scenes for women in the industry.
Mastercard has sponsored the Cannes Film Festival for a decade, but this year, they turned the spotlight onto something different: the State of Play for Women in Film.
Despite growing visibility, a deeper problem remains. Nearly half of women working in film feel progress is slipping backwards, and 58% say subtle, insidious barriers are on the rise. Yes, we may see more women on screen — but how many are shaping the stories from behind the scenes?
I sat down with Ambika and director Nisha Ganatra to talk about the added pressure that underrepresentation places on women of colour — and whether that burden shapes the way they work compared to their male peers.
As we be intimate , representation is important , but how do you take the weight of being one of the very few woman of coloring in the industry and try out not to get the daily pressure affect your work ?
Nisha : I do n’t do that , I just put the air pressure on day by day , and I prove to enjoy the study that I ’m doing , haha .
Ambika : Haha , I stand for yeah , same – you just have to keep reminding yourself that actually you ’re not here to stage every single person , you ’re here to do your job and follow the things .
Nisha : I do n’t know , I endeavor to present every single somebody , every South Asian .
Ambika : Oh , really ? Oh God , that ’s believably why you ’re having a really hard time haha no I ’m jest but just the South Asians yeah we all have a homogeneous experience and they can all be captured with whatever we ’re doing .
During the venire , you both spoke about the importance of role mannikin and as we know , it ’s grueling to be what you ca n’t see . What is a women - conduct project , either behind the scenes or on covert , that you give dear to your heart ?
Ambika : I think I ’m in a rarefied situation where majority of the major TV jobs I ’ve done have been lead by women , women execs , women producers , women directors , specially adult female head directors and I ’m aware what a inner status that is to have been in and it ’s plausibly open me a very warped sentience of what the reality is really like out there . For shows likeThis Is go away To HurtorOne Day , it was predominantly woman - led teams , women at the helm – both of those projects , not just what happened after they came out , but just making those projects were really enlightening experiences that changed my life .
Nisha : I meanLate Nightwas very inspiring because I consider Mindy ( Kaling ) just wrote the script for herself to be in features because she was n’t being swan in characteristic as the lead and she wrote it with Emma Thomspson and then Emma Thompson was magically attest by the universe to come to this and then we all together got to make this film . I think Emma Thompson is fabulously inspiring , she ’s someone we both have the lot of influence with and talking to . I think any metre there are women behind the tv camera , it ’s animate because you ascertain something from all of them , I mean , decently now , this is pretty exciting , there ’s a womanhood behind this television camera .
Ambika : A adult female behind the scenes !
You ’ve both spoken so highly about Emma Thompson in the past and how she ’s guide on you . What is the serious while of advice you ’ve received from a woman in the industriousness ?
Ambika : I mean sorry to make love on about Emma Thompson again but the thing she pronounce to me , that always stick out to me and I always cue myself of , is that she said “ there ’s no such thing as a career , there ’s only what you do next ” which I call up is also something that I prompt myself of when I ’m place insistency on myself or feeling like a essence or I experience this social obligation – I just need to find a thing that excites me next and that can take any shape or human body and it can be unlike to what I thought it was gon na be . I do n’t have to respond to anyone but myself in this industry , to an extent .
Nisha : I guess on that same sort of front , a distributor once said to me “ do n’t hold off too recollective to make your next motion-picture show because – film producer are allow to fail ” and that is not truthful for women , but I try out to , luckily we have n’t , but I attempt to remember that to take some of the air pressure off . You ’re tolerate to make a unsound picture show , even though it decidedly feels like you ’re not .
Do you think there is still work to be done for women in the film industry?
