Julianne Moore warns gender equality still distant at Cannes event

Updated 18 May, 2026 04:38pm 2 min read

Oscar winner Julianne Moore said true gender equality remains a distant goal as she accepted an award on Sunday night for ​championing women in film at an elegant soiree removed from ‌the Cannes Film Festival red carpet bustle.

Guests, including Daisy Edgar-Jones, Sebastian Stan, Colman Domingo and Odessa A’zion, sipped champagne as they overlooked the French Riviera town’s yacht-filled bay ​from the historic Place de la Castre ahead of the ceremony.

“We’re ​pretty far away, honestly, in lots of the world in ⁠terms of real gender equality,” Moore told Reuters.

“It’s not ​endemic to the film industry. It’s something that’s a global issue,” she ​added.

Moore, who began her career in daytime soap operas, including As the World Turns, went on to win an Oscar for best actress in 2015 for playing a university professor ​with Alzheimer’s disease in Still Alice.

A regular presence at major film festivals, including ​Cannes, Moore has also been outspoken on social and political issues, frequently using her platform ‌to ⁠advocate for greater equality and representation in the film industry as well as in wider public life.

“She has been consistently brilliant for decades now; she’s an inspiration. Also, her taste is impeccable in material,” said actor and ​producer Salma Hayek, who ​is married to ⁠Kering’s controlling shareholder and chair, Francois-Henri Pinault.

Women in Motion, set up by French luxury group Kering in 2015, ​also handed out its 50,000-euro ($58,125) emerging talent award to Italian ​filmmaker Margherita ⁠Spampinato, which will go towards making her second feature film.

Speaking at a separate event on Saturday, Moore likened efforts to improve female representation to how ⁠a mouse ​would get through a wall: “One bite at ​a time. You do it slowly, steadily, mindfully.

Making choices, speaking up, using your privilege, hiring ​more.“

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