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Former Palme d'Or winner to take prestigious role as jury president for this year's edition of the premier European film festival

• Jane Campion wanted a bleaker ending for The Piano

• Jane Campion: this much I know

The Oscar-winning director of The Piano, Jane Campion, is to lead the jury at this year's Cannes film festival.

Campion, who is also the only female film-maker to have ever taken home the French event's top prize, the Palme d'Or, described her passion for the world's most famous film festival in a statement.

"Since I first went to Cannes with my short films in 1986 I have had the opportunity to see the festival from many sides and my admiration for this Queen of film festivals has only grown larger," she said. "At the Cannes film festival they manage to combine and celebrate the glamour of the industry, the stars, the parties, the beaches,...

Of the 22 films in contention for the prestigious Palme d'Or, not one has a female director. And while women's lives are getting more attention on screen, the struggle to break in to the rough and tough old boys' club of directing appears as hard as ever

Cannes' fabled Croisette promenade was dotted with the customary festival starlets in high heels and glamorous dresses yesterday afternoon.

But just behind them, a feminist uprising of sorts was in full swing. Inside a landmark hotel on the seafront strip in the South of France, loud calls for positive discrimination in favour of women's films were being voiced. The impact of British director Andrea Arnold's public anger about the failure to include a female director in the prestigious Palme D'Or line-up continues to stir controversy at the annual celebration of world cinema.

Speakers at a Beyond Borders diversity symposium echoed Arnold's complaint that...

The French feminist collective known as La Barbe (French for “The Beard”) printed an open letter in France’s daily newspaper Le Monde earlier this week addressing the complete absence of films directed by women in the Competition section at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. La Barbe is made up of actress Fanny Cottençon, writer/director Virginie Despentes and director Coline Serreau, who have also set up an online petition which has been signed by numerous luminaries, including feminist icon Gloria Steinem and filmmakers such as Ry Russo-Young, Gillian Armstrong and Ava DuVernay.

The British newspaper The Guardian ran a translation of the open letter, which reads as follows:

“What has changed in cinema? Everything has changed!” exclaimed Gilles Jacob, president of the Cannes film festival, during the presentation of the 65th Cannes festival film nominations. Everything?! For one second, we trembled. But for no reason, it turned out,...

Open letter: Women may adorn the awards ceremony and prettify the posters, but, mon dieu, don't let them behind the camera

"What has changed in cinema? Everything has changed!" exclaimed Gilles Jacob, president of the Cannes film festival, during the presentation of the 65th Cannes festival film nominations. Everything?! For one second, we trembled. But for no reason, it turned out, as the 22 officially selected movies – happy coincidence – were directed by 22 men. This 65th festival will end up giving the precious award to a male director for the 63rd time, defending the masculine values that give the seventh art its nobility.

Only once did the Cannes film festival lose heart. In 1993, the Palme d'Or was indeed awarded to Jane Campion. And last year, doubtless due to a lack of vigilance, four women somehow sneaked in among the 20 people nominated in the official competition. Thierry Frémeaux, the festival's director general, correctly...