Media Governance and Industries Lab Blog

by Anne Waack

As the 2026 award season unfolds, film audiences are once again celebrating the artistry of cinematography. Lighting, framing, and camera movement shape how stories feel. They can make a scene intimate, tense or unforgettable. Yet this year’s nominations also raise a bigger question: who actually gets to create these images? While Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s historic 2026 Oscar nomination for Sinners has drawn attention to women behind the lens, such recognition remains extremely rare.

As Sarah Baumgartner analysed in her blogpost, cinema is more than entertainment – it also shapes how societies see themselves. While public debates about gender equality in film often focus on actresses and directors, cinematography remains largely ignored and still is one of the most male-dominated professions. This is especially striking in Europe, where public film funding often claims to promote diversity and equal opportunity. The lack of women behind the camera becomes impossible to ignore.

Gender parity not until 2204

Cinematography is often seen as a technical profession but it is also a creative one. Cinematographers decide how a film looks and feels. They shape atmosphere, emotion, and visual style. Women remain strongly underrepresented in this field. Data from the European Audiovisual Observatory shows that in 2024, women made up only around 14% of cinematographers in European film production. Even more shocking, based on current trends, gender equality in cinematography may not be reached until 2204. This is not simply a delay but rather a structural problem that can be explained through Social Role Theory, which links men with authority and technical competence, while women are associated with care and support. Since cinematographers hold leadership and decision-making power on set, the profession is still culturally coded as masculine. As a result, women face stereotypes, limited access to informal networks, and everyday challenges to their authority. Some describe this as a “celluloid ceiling”, an invisible barrier that keeps women from reaching higher positions in film production. The blogpost by Louisa Zehnder shows that the cause isn’t a lack of competence or skills but rather structures influenced by hidden gender stereotypes.

New quantitative research: Blind spot in EU film funding

A recent quantitative study conducted by Daniel Foss, Driss Schmid, and Anne Waack at the Department of Communication at the University of Vienna highlights how large the gender gap remains in EU-funded films. The analysis focuses on the Creative Europe Programme, the European Union’s main funding framework for culture and media.

Between 2015 and 2025, Creative Europe supported 4,324 films. Across these productions, there were 1,957 individual cinematographers listed. Only 234 of them were women, which equals just 11.96%. Interestingly, women were more present in directing roles (about 25.58%). This suggests that technical jobs like cinematography remain even more closed off than other creative leadership roles.

One might expect the EU’s funding policies to actively address this issue. But the research found something surprising: The EU and the Creative Europe Programme leave technical craft roles essentially invisible in their policy language. To better understand this, the study compares Creative Europe with another European film funding body: Eurimages of the Council of Europe. Eurimages has introduced clearer gender strategies and explicitly tracks technical roles, including cinematographers. Their approach shows that it is possible to include these professions in equality policies if institutions choose to do so. This comparison suggests that the EU’s failure to address cinematographers is not due to lack of data or lack of relevance, but rather a blind spot in how film policy defines ‘important’ roles.

How to move closer to equality

If European institutions want real gender equality in film production, they must include cinematography directly in policy frameworks. That means moving beyond general statements and focusing on concrete measures. A first step is better data collection. If funding bodies do not track who gets hired as cinematographer, the inequality stays hidden and unaddressed. Similar to Eurimages Creative Europe could create stronger incentives for productions that hire women in technical leadership roles. This could include funding bonuses, evaluation advantages, or diversity requirements for key crew positions. Training and mentoring programmes should be expanded beyond directing and screenwriting. Supporting “women filmmakers” in general is not enough if key technical jobs remain excluded. Moreover, the film industry must challenge the stereotype that technical authority belongs to men. As long as cinematography is treated as a male profession, progress will remain slow no matter how many equality goals are announced.

Still missing behind the lens

European cinema claims to represent cultural diversity, yet the workforce behind the camera does not reflect this goal. The research by Foss, Schmid and Waack shows that while women’s participation in directing is slowly improving, cinematography remains one of the most male-dominated professions in European film production. Women account for only around 12% of cinematographers in EU-funded films, despite the EU’s commitment to equality. Most importantly, EU policy frameworks rarely address cinematographers directly. Equality strategies tend to focus on leadership and authorship roles, leaving technical crafts invisible. Without recognition, there are no real incentives to change hiring patterns. If the EU wants its film funding to truly promote equality, it must include technical roles like cinematography in its gender agenda. Otherwise, women will continue to remain absent behind the lens.

References

Baumgartner, S. (2024). Das Kino: Kunst und Kultur als gesellschaftliche Lebensader. Media Governance and Industries Lab Blog. Retrieved February 17, 2026, from https://univiennamedialab.wordpress.com/2024/08/30/das-kino-kunst-und-kultur-als-gesellschaftlichelebensader/ 

Eagly, A.H. (1987). Sex Differences in Social Behavior: A Social-role interpretation. Psychology Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203781906

Schneeberger, A. (2025). Female professionals in European film production: 2015–2024 figures. European Audiovisual Observatory. Retrieved December 28, 2025, from https://rm.coe.int/female-professionals-in-european-film-production-2015-2024-figures-sep/4880286d54 

Zehndner, L. (2024). Das „Celluloid Ceiling“ der Österreichischen Filmbranche: Der Weg von Regisseurinnen an die Spitze der österreichischen Filmbranche. Media Governance and Industries Lab Blog. Retrieved February 17, 2026, from https://univiennamedialab.wordpress.com/2024/08/30/das-celluloid-ceiling-der-osterreichischen-filmbranche-der-weg-von-regisseurinnen-an-die-spitze-der-osterreichischen-filmbranche/

Anne Waack is a M.A. student at the Department of Communication, University of Vienna.