Women Behind the Camera: The Revolution Reshaping Film Sets

It is May 2024. The Palais des Festivals in Cannes falls silent for a moment, then erupts. All We Imagine as Light ÔÇö a film written and directed by Payal Kapadia, a 38-year-old woman from Mumbai ÔÇö receives the Grand Prix, the second-highest honour at the world's most prestigious film festival. It is the first Indian film to compete in the main competition at Cannes in thirty years. The audience gives it an eight-minute standing ovation.

In that same year, French director Coralie Fargeat's body-horror masterpiece The Substance receives a thirteen-minute ovation at its Cannes premiere ÔÇö the longest of the festival ÔÇö before going on to win Best Screenplay and earn Demi Moore a Golden Globe.

Two women. Two standing ovations. One undeniable signal: the old order is cracking.

But here is the part the press releases tend to skip. These moments of triumph exist inside a system that is still, structurally and stubbornly, built for someone else. Understanding both truths at once ÔÇö the breakthrough and the barrier ÔÇö is the only honest way to talk about women behind the camera today.

The Numbers That Don't Lie

According to the 2024 Celluloid Ceiling Report from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film ÔÇö women comprised just 23% of directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers working on the top 250 grossing U.S. films of 2024. That is an increase of only 6 percentage points since 1998.

Break it down by department:

• Directors: 16% women
• Cinematographers: 12% women
• Composers: 9% women
• Editors: 20% women
• Writers: 20% women

The USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative's 2025 data adds another gut punch: only 8.1% of directors on the top 100 grossing films of 2025 were women ÔÇö a seven-year low.

And perhaps the most damning single statistic: of 1,497 credits for VFX Supervisor across major productions, 97.1% were held by men. Only 2.9% ÔÇö just forty-two people ÔÇö were women.

"When women were tapped to direct movies, they employed 52% women writers, 34% women cinematographers, and 27% women editors on those films. The problem is not women's ability to build inclusive sets. The problem is who gets the keys."

ÔÇö Celluloid Ceiling Report, 2024

The Trailblazers: Seven Women Rewriting the Rules

1. Payal Kapadia ÔÇö Director (India)

Kapadia's All We Imagine as Light topped the Sight and Sound poll for the best film of 2024. It earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director. Her cinema is intimate, political, and deeply feminine ÔÇö not because it stars women, but because it sees the world through their interior lives.

2. Coralie Fargeat ÔÇö Director and Editor (France)

Fargeat wrote, directed, co-produced, and co-edited The Substance ÔÇö a film that uses horror to autopsy the film industry's obsession with female bodies. Her win at Cannes for Best Screenplay validated a voice that refuses to be palatable.

3. Fowzia Fathima ÔÇö Cinematographer and IWCC Co-Founder (India)

In 2015, she founded the Indian Women Cinematographers' Collective (IWCC). Today, the IWCC has grown to over 60 members. Her debut film, Mitr, My Friend (2002) had an all-female technical crew.

4. Savita Singh ÔÇö Cinematographer (India)

A graduate of FTII Pune and one of the IWCC's founding voices. Her work on Hawaizaada and the National Award-winning Kramasha demonstrates range and technical command that puts her among India's finest cinematographers.

5. Deepti Gupta ÔÇö Cinematographer and Director (India)

Her documentary Shut Up Sona has traveled to festivals worldwide. As a cinematographer, she has shot Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. and Fakir of Venice.

6. Mildred Iatrou Morgan and Ai-Ling Lee ÔÇö Sound Designers (USA)

They were the first female team ever nominated for an Oscar in the sound category. The organisation Women Who Are Sound (WWAS) now counts nearly 200 members globally.

7. Ryu Seong-hie ÔÇö Production Designer (South Korea)

Production designer behind Oldboy, The Handmaiden, Thirst, and Decision to Leave. The visual grammar of the Korean New Wave owes a profound debt to her eye.

What the Industry Is Still Getting Wrong

The Big Budget Lockout

Women are hired at higher rates on low and mid-budget productions. The moment a studio greenlights a film with a nine-figure budget, the key positions default to men. Fix the mentorship pipeline at the mid-level, and the blockbuster gap will eventually follow.

The Crew Call Problem

Many crew calls circulate through informal networks that women are systematically excluded from. WhatsApp groups, alumni clubs, the assistant who brings his whole crew. If the network is male-dominated, the set will be too. This is exactly why platforms like AIO Cine Productions ÔÇö with an open, searchable, department-specific talent directory ÔÇö matter structurally.

The "Technical Departments" Myth

Cinematography, sound, VFX, and production design are still socially coded as male. Film schools need to actively recruit, retain, and promote women in technical disciplines.

Set Safety Is Not Optional

The Hema Committee Report, released in India in 2024, was a watershed moment ÔÇö documenting harassment, power abuse, and systemic silence in the Malayalam film industry. The findings were not unique to Kerala. They were a mirror held up to an industry-wide problem.

Equal Pay Is Still Not Equal

Women in crew roles are routinely quoted lower day rates than their male counterparts for identical work. Industry guilds and streaming platforms need to mandate pay transparency as a contractual requirement.

Resources for Women in Film

• Indian Women Cinematographers' Collective (IWCC) ÔÇö India's premier network for women DoPs
• Women Who Are Sound (WWAS) ÔÇö Global community for women and non-binary professionals in sound
• Women in Film (WIF) ÔÇö Fellowship, grants, and advocacy
• Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media ÔÇö Research, advocacy, and industry tools
• USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative ÔÇö The gold standard in inclusion research

This Is Not a "Women's Issue"

When Payal Kapadia makes All We Imagine as Light, the world gets a film that Sight and Sound calls the best of the year. When Coralie Fargeat gets the keys to a real budget, the world gets a body horror film so sharp that Cannes gives it thirteen minutes of applause. The art is better when the room is wider. That is not ideology ÔÇö it is filmmaking logic.

Your Next Frame Starts Here

If you are a woman working in film ÔÇö as a DoP, editor, sound designer, VFX artist, production designer, director, or any role on a crew ÔÇö your career should not depend on who you know or which WhatsApp group you were added to. It should depend on your work.

AIO Cine Productions is India's dedicated film industry job board and talent marketplace. Create your profile, list your department, your credits, your reel ÔÇö and let your work speak for itself.

Create your free profile on AIO Cine Productions and put your name where it belongs: on the crew sheet.