Nicole Kidman attends the 2025 Kering Women In Motion Awards and Cannes Film Festival Presidential Dinner at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival at the Place de la Castre on May 18, 2025 in Cannes, France.
| Photo Credit: Monica Schipper
Australian actor Nicole Kidman vowed to keep pushing for gender equality in cinema at an exclusive party on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday. The actor was awarded the Kering Women In Motion award at the Women in Motion dinner at Cannes, part of a program set up by luxury group Kering in 2015.”I’m just an advocate and want to continue to keep moving forward with that, with my pledge from 2017, so it ain’t over,” said the actor.Kidman, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in The Hours in 2002, has worked with many of the leading male directors of her generation, but she pledged in 2017 to shoot with a female director every 18 months.She told journalists in the French Riviera resort town earlier on Sunday that in the eight years since, she’s worked with 27 female directors, including projects in development.”Part of it is protecting and surrounding the women with almost like a force field of protection and support,” she said.

(L-R) Festival Director Thierry Frémaux, Cannes President Iris Knobloch, Marianna Brennand, winner of the 2025 Women In Motion Emerging Talent Award, Nicole Kidman, winner of the 2025 Kering Women In Motion Award, and François-Henri Pinault attend the 2025 Kering Women In Motion Awards and Cannes Film Festival Presidential Dinner at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival at the Place de la Castre on May 18, 2025 in Cannes, France.
| Photo Credit:
Monica Schipper
Other stars at the dinner included Dakota Johnson and Julianne Moore, as well as Patrick Schwarzenegger of The White Lotus. Director Guillermo del Toro was also in attendance.Brazilian director Marianna Brennand received the initiative’s emerging talent award, which includes a grant of 50,000 euros ($55,920.00) to work on a second feature project.”If you look at the numbers, unfortunately, the numbers, they don’t change,” said French director Coralie Fargeat, whose Demi Moore-led body horror hit The Substance found widespread success after premiering at Cannes last year.”We really need to keep making huge changes and not cosmetic changes,” she said.According to Women in Motion organisers, the share of women directors increased to only 13.6% from 7.5% among the top 100 box office films in the United States between 2015 and 2024.Seven out of the 22 films in competition this year were made by women, including an entry from Julia Ducournau, one of only three women to have ever won the Palme d’Or top prize. Published – May 19, 2025 11:47 am IST