Cannes call to arms

From this year’s Cannes Film Festival, director Jane Campion urged her female counterparts — which number only 6 per cent — to “put on their coats of armour” and take on the “old boys’ network” of the film industry. The 55-year-old, who won the Palme D’Or for The Piano in 1993, was at the festival for the premiere of her new film, Bright Star. “I would love to see more women directors because they represent half of the population and gave birth to the whole world,” Campion said. “Without them the rest [of the world] are not getting to know the whole story.” Becoming a film-maker means developing a thick skin, she added. “My suspicion is that women aren’t used to that.