This photo shows the founders of the Japanese Film Project (clockwise from left): Erina Ito, Tatsuhito Utagawa, and Takashi Nishihara.

       TOKYO -- Over the past 20 years, only 25 women have directed a hit Japanese film. Japan ranked 120th in the latest Global Gender Gap Report, and a survey has revealed that the country's film industry, overwhelmingly male-dominated, is no exception.

       The survey was conducted by the Japanese Film Project (JFP), a nonprofit organization founded by filmmaker Tatsuhito Utagawa, director Takashi Nishihara, and journalist Erina Ito to study gender inequality and working conditions in Japanese film production and to make policy recommendations.

       According to the results of the group's first survey, which was released on July 1, there were a total of 796 directors of Japanese films released between 2000 and 2020 that earned more than 1 billion yen (about $9 million) at the box office -- the standard for a hit. However, only 25 of these directors, or 3.1%, were women.

       Closer examination of the figures shows there were almost none in the early 2000s, a gradual increase in the 2010s, and but still only 8% in 2019. In 2020, with the coronavirus pandemic underway, the rate was zero again.

       The JFP also looked at the percentage of women involved in the making of Japanese films released in 2019 and 2020. It found around 10% of directors and cinematographers working on the set were women, as were about 20% of scriptwriters and editors working before and after the shoot. When divided into the genres of fiction, documentary and animation, documentaries were more likely to have female directors and cinematographers than fiction films.

       When comparing the five major film companies in Japan (Toho Co., Toei Co., Shochiku Co., Kadokawa Corp. and Nikkatsu Corp.) with other companies, the ratio of female directors and cinematographers was higher in non-major companies.

       Utagawa commented, "To close the gender gap, it is essential to improve the working environment on the set. There is harassment, working hours are long, and sleep time is reduced. Even if we train young women, they can't stand it and leave. I want to use data as a catalyst for change and encourage the entire industry to work on the change."

       JFP plans to continue to conduct surveys every year and deliver the data to industry organizations such as the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan and film festival organizers to call for improvements.

       Similar surveys have already been conducted in the U.S. and Europe, and attempts are being made in the industry to eliminate the skewed gender ratio.

       A survey by the University of Southern California, which JFP used as a reference, analyzed the top 100 grossing films of the year from 2007 to 2019, totaling 1,300. Of a total of 1,448 directors, 70, or 4.8%, were women. During this period, the lowest rate was 1.9% in 2013 and 2014, but the figure increased to 10.6% in 2019.

       In Europe, a survey was conducted by Le Lab Femmes de Cinema, a French research group that aims to improve the status of women in the film industry. According to this survey, the percentage of female directors in Europe as a whole in 2012 to 2018 reached 19.67%.

       By country, Sweden had the highest proportion, at 30.35%, followed by France at 24.13%, and Spain at 14.66%. In 2017, 43.4% of Finnish films were directed by women, approaching half of the total, but Finland is not a major film producing country with only 38 titles produced annually.

       In 2017, the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment spread from Hollywood. At the Cannes Film Festival in 2018, Jane Campion, director of the 1993 movie "The Piano," pointed out that of the nearly 1,700 directors selected for the competition section since the festival began, less than 5%, or 82, were women. There is a growing movement to bring the gender ratio closer to 50% at Cannes and at other film festivals around the world.

       At Cannes this year, five of the nine members of the jury are women. Separately, the Berlin International Film Festival has eliminated the gender distinction for the Best Actor award this year. The U.S. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that presents the Oscars has also established new requirements for Best Picture nominees from 2024, requiring a certain percentage of women and racial minorities to be involved in the film.

       The JFP's survey results can be viewed on its official website at https://jfproject.org/en.

       (Japanese original by Tomomi Katsuta, Cultural News Department)

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