It was billed as the year in which female film-makers and women's issues would be in the spotlight. The festival opened with a film by a female director for the first time in 28 years, Isabella Rossellini chaired the Un Certain Regard jury and Salma Hayek convened a high-profile panel to discuss the role of women in cinema. There was plenty to talk about – but had anything really changed? The numbers seemed to speak for themselves: of the 19 films in competition, only two were directed by women. And then came 'Heelgate' – of which, more later… Faced with suggestions that the festival is sexist, artistic director Thierry Frémaux was having none of it. Cannes was being held to an unfairly high standard, he claimed, one not applied to other festivals like Venice or Berlin. His suggestion? Instead, people should “attack the Oscars”.