Russian film director Alexander Sokurov has stated that modern cinema lacks a female perspective and that women remain significantly underrepresented across the film industry.
Speaking in an interview on the Forbes Talk YouTube program, the filmmaker emphasized the importance of the female voice in cinema. Sokurov noted that men frequently fail to understand women and cannot speak on their behalf, asserting that the male world does not recognize a woman as a human being.
Sokurov revealed that he can determine whether a movie was directed by a woman within literally a minute of screen time. Although he admitted he cannot clearly explain the exact signs that lead him to his conclusion, he pointed to fundamental differences in how male and female directors handle realistic scenes.
According to Sokurov, where a male director will stop, a female director will not. He explained that when a scene becomes overly realistic, a man will cut the episode short without completing it, whereas a woman will inevitably see the scene through to its final end. He linked this artistic approach to female nature, arguing that just as a pregnancy must result in a child, a woman's creative process demands full completion.
Director background and media impact
Sokurov is widely regarded as one of Russia's most prominent auteur filmmakers. He gained major international acclaim for his 2002 historical drama Russian Ark, which was filmed in a single continuous shot at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. His 2011 film Faust was awarded the Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice International Film Festival.
Forbes Talk is a video interview series hosted on YouTube by Forbes Russia, featuring extended conversations with prominent figures from culture, arts, and industry. During the interview, Sokurov expressed confidence that if women were given the opportunity to fully realize themselves in art, the public would experience an entirely different landscape across cinema, radio theatre, and drama.
