Brie Larson calls for diversity in film criticism after A Wrinkle In Time receives mixed reviews

Beverly Hills, California: Brie Larson made a plea for more diversity in film criticism at the Women In Film Crystal + Lucy Awards on 13 June in Beverly Hills. [caption id=“attachment_4510951” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Brie Larson at Women In Film Crystal + Lucy Awards. AP[/caption] Larson, who was given the Crystal Award for Excellence in Film, used her platform to draw attention to a University of Southern California study published this week that found that film critics are almost 80 percent male, and largely white. Women of color made up 2.5 percent of top critics, according to the study. “Am I saying that I hate white dudes? No, I am not,” Larson said. “But if you make a movie that is a love letter to women of colour there is an insanely low chance that a woman of colour would get to see that movie … I don’t need a 40-year-old white dude to tell me what didn’t work about A Wrinkle in Time .” She called on film studios and publicity teams to invite diverse critics and reporters to press screenings and junkets. Larson also announced that both the Sundance Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival will, in response, allocate 20 percent of press credentials to underrepresented journalists. Dungey received the evening’s other top honour, the Lucy Award for Excellence in Television. “Long before it was a conversation, long before it was a bumper sticker, Channing was just going about the business of making good television and making good decisions and hiring people based on their talent,” said Ellen Pompeo, who presented the award to Dungey. “You feel like anything is possible working for this woman.” Dungey has been in the spotlight in the past two weeks since the sudden cancellation of Roseanne. Although she never mentioned the show, or Roseanne Barr, and her highlight reel was absent of both, Dungey did speak about “uncertain times” and quote Michelle Obama saying “when they go low, we go high.” “When we see things happening around us that are counter to our beliefs, our actions must match our words,” Dungey said, with her 5-year-old daughter by her side on stage. “That’s not always easy to do.”