Stars of Spanish cinema have lashed out at the lack of women in the film industry at the country's equivalent of the Oscars. "We need directors, screenwriters, directors of photography, scripts, technicians, composers -- equal in number to men," said actress Nora Navas, a vice president of the Spanish Film Academy, during the Goyas in Madrid on Saturday.

The problem with the way we talk about Woody Allen is not in accidentally saying he is good when he is bad, or bad when he is good—either as a man or as a filmmaker. No, the problem is in giving him the keys to the kingdom of moviemaking. The problem with Allen is his power. The same power that enables him to make artistic choices, and to remain the be-all-and-end-all of “what his movies mean,” also empowers him to do whatever he likes, including abuse vulnerable people.

"Feminism in Germany has been lagging behind for the last 40 or 50 years," she added. "It has not advanced as far, and #MeToo is in many ways an expression of power." Germany also has been relatively slow to modernize its laws against rape. It took until 1997 for Parliament to recognize rape in marriage as a crime. Polls have found that 40% of women in Germany report having experienced sexual or physical abuse.

ithout staff or funding, and with the pressing demands of life and work, the 50/50 meetings fell off, but loose-knit connections remained, aided by dial-up e-mail. And that community, says Coolidge, “gave rise to all these new communities now.” Many a young woman in the film trade, upon encountering someone from the group, has been heard to remark, with awe, “You were at Miramar?”

Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, who co-founded Sony Pictures Classics and often usher Sundance movies to Oscar success, said they have produced films by 59 female filmmakers, but that a lot of those filmmakers have struggled to find success elsewhere. “I don’t think women have been given those opportunities after their experience with us from all these other companies, and I think it’s right to stand up and say they deserve more attention than they were given,” Barker said.

Ms. Witherspoon marvels at how the business is changing. A few years ago, she said, prospects were dim for actresses over age 40. She hopes she can help change that in her new role. “You get older and the phone does stop ringing,” she said. “It’s systemic, because the people who are writing the stories aren’t 40-year-old women. You write what you know. Well, there were no 40-year-old female screenwriters, and now women of color are writing screenplays and getting them made at big studios.

From the outset, female cinematographers were considered an outlandish sight. Women held many jobs in the silent film industry, but mostly the less visible roles such as writing and editing. Although, cinematography was barely two decades old magazines found the idea of a woman operating a camera to be at best a novelty, and at worst, freakish. “How many of you have ever heard of a woman camera man?” asked Picture Play in 1916. “That such a person exists will doubtless be a surprise to the majority of people in the film business, as well as those outside it.”

When the Molly's Game actress appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday, she decided to prove to the host how this sexism makes its way on screen. Specifically, she brought in some examples of Hollywood scripts and had herself and Fallon swap roles — she would read for the man, and he would read for the woman.

“I’m pretty encouraged right now,” said Redford during the festival’s opening press conference on Thursday afternoon. “What it’s doing is bringing forth more opportunities for women and more opportunities for women in film to have their voices heard and do their own projects.”

"For women in Hollywood, the system was created to isolate them from each other and to pit them against one another," says Silverstein. "Women are taking back the power by sharing the information in a way that has never been done before."

Whether the strong likelihood of a nod for Dunkirk meant the studio allotted more of its award season budget for Wonder Woman in both major categories, or instead focused the budgeting on lobbying for Nolan as a Best Director pick, remains to be seen. But all indications are that Warner gave Wonder Woman a strong push, and so far it's paid off with the previously mentioned attention from many award season orgs and shows.