How representation of women directors still so sparse at film festivals

The TIFF website points out that out of last year's top 250 films, only 20 per cent had women directors, writers, producers, editors or cinematographers

In her previous career in finance, French-Tunisian filmmaker Manele Labidi was used to being treated differently from her male colleagues. When she entered the film industry, she felt a sense of déjà vu. The director, who was at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to premiere her debut film Arab Blues, a well-crafted comedy about a young female psychotherapist who returns to Tunis from Paris to set up a practice, said in an interview, “If you come to a producer or financer and say I’m going to do a war movie or science fiction movie, I guess it’s not the