DUBAI: Director May El-Toukhy has highlighted what she considers inequality facing female filmmakers in the industry. “It is a structural problem, and it’s a structural ‌problem that I ‌have encountered throughout my own career,” the Danish-Egyptian filmmaker told ‌reporters on Sunday at the Venice Film Festival, ahead ⁠of the premiere of her latest movie. El-Toukhy is the only woman directing a fiction film among the 21 contenders for the Golden Lion. Just one other competition entry, a documentary, has a female co-director, fueling debate about women’s representation in cinema. “It was very, very hard to get my first film done after graduating from film school. I think it took me six or seven years, whereas my male peers were much faster than me,” Reuters reported her as saying. Despite the heightened awareness following the #MeToo movement, El-Toukhy said she observed a regression in gender bias. “After #MeToo, I think all of us were really aware of this gender imbalance,” she told reporters. “And something has happened over the course of the last couple of years where we’re kind of returning to, you know, what it used to be — and so we have to be better,” she added. Set in ‌the aftermath of the Second World War, “Woman Unknown” follows a Danish housemaid ‌preparing to marry her wealthy employer when a past relationship with a German soldier threatens to destroy her future. In newly liberated Denmark, women accused of fraternizing with occupying German forces were often subjected to public humiliation. El-Toukhy said the story’s themes echo her comments about representation. “My film is about the invisibility of women,” she said. “It’s ⁠about being ⁠objectified on one hand and on the other hand being unseen and voiceless.” While grateful for the attention generated by her presence in competition, she said she would prefer to be joined by more female filmmakers. “Of course, I would love to have more female colleagues in competition beside me,” she said, according to AFP.