Lack of female representation in Cannes is disturbing: Jessica Chastain

In the closing press conference of this year's Cannes Film Festival, actress Jessica Chastain took the moment to voice her concern on the onscreen representation of women in this year's line-up.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 40-year-old-actress found the onscreen representation of women in this year's Cannes Film Festival lineup "quite disturbing".

She said, "I do believe that if you have female storytelling you also have more authentic female characters. This is the first time I've watched 20 films in 10 days, and I love movies. And the one thing I really took away from this experience is how the world views women from the female characters that I saw represented. It was quite disturbing to me, to be honest."

The 'Miss Sloane' star made these comments after Sofia Coppola won the jury award for Best Director for the movie 'The Beguiled'.

Coppola is only the second woman awarded with the honour, and the first since 1961.

The actress also hopes that by including more female storytellers, people will have more of the women that she recognises in her day-to-day life.

She added, "There are some exceptions, I will say, but for the most part, I was surprised with the representation of female characters onscreen. I do hope that when we include more female storytellers, we will have more of the women that I recognize in my day-to-day life. Ones that are proactive, have their own agencies, don't just react to the men around them. They have their own point of view."

As the video of Chastain's speech began to go viral, other female artists also voiced their support, including actresses Mindy Kaling and America Ferrera who praised the actress for "speaking her truth".

American TV star America Ferrera tweeted, "It takes courage to speak truth to power. Thank you @jes_chastain for speaking truth and representing the voices of millions!"

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ava DuVernay also backed the artist, tweeting the video of Chastain's speech with the caption, "Say that, Jessica Chastain."

This isn't the first time Chastain has spoken out on gender inequality, previously championing equal pay for women in Hollywood.