Julianne Moore Receives Kering Women in Motion Award at Cannes, Calls Gender Equality ‘Pretty Far Away’

Julianne Moore accepted the Kering Women in Motion Award on Sunday evening at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. She used the moment to call out how far the world still has to go.

The ceremony took place at the historic Place de la Castre, away from the red carpet, as guests including Daisy Edgar-Jones, Sebastian Stan, Colman Domingo, and Odessa A’Zion took in views of the yacht-filled bay ahead of the event.

“We’re pretty far away, honestly, in lots of the world in terms of real gender equality,” Moore told Reuters. “It’s not something that is endemic to the film industry. It’s something that’s a global issue.”

That sentiment carried through her full acceptance speech. Standing at the podium, Moore declared, “I fucking love actresses,” while making the case for more stories centered on the female point of view — looking out at a crowd that included Demi Moore, Ruth Negga, Vicky Krieps, and past honorees Salma Hayek Pinault and Isabelle Huppert.

“This is something that makes me crazy: There’s a cultural assumption, particularly in the United States, that women’s stories are less interesting or smaller, or that if we’re at the center of a narrative we need to be stronger or accomplishing something great or doing something particularly male if we want men to watch us,” Moore said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “And I think that’s untrue.”

It was not a polite speech. It was a position.

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Women in Motion Has Recognized Female Artists in Cinema Since 2015

The Women in Motion award, launched in 2015 by luxury group Kering in partnership with the Festival de Cannes, celebrates female artists whose careers and commitment have advanced the role of women both in cinema and in society. Moore joins an esteemed lineup of past honorees including Nicole Kidman, Viola Davis, Michelle Yeoh, Patty Jenkins, Gong Li, Salma Hayek Pinault, Geena Davis, Susan Sarandon, and Jane Fonda.

Kering chairman François-Henri Pinault announced her selection weeks before the ceremony. “Through the consistency of her artistic choices, the depth and complexity she brings to her performances, and her longstanding dedication to advancing meaningful representation both on and off screen, she has helped redefine what it means to be a leading woman in cinema,” Pinault said, according to Deadline.

Moore is the first American woman to receive top acting honors at the Berlin, Venice, and Cannes film festivals. Her credits span Still Alice, Far From Heaven, The Hours, Boogie Nights, and The Kids Are All Right, with recent work including Todd Haynes’ May December, Pedro Almodóvar‘s The Room Next Door, and Netflix’s limited series Sirens.

Moore, who began her career in daytime soap operas including As the World Turns, won an Oscar for best actress in 2015 for playing a university professor with Alzheimer’s disease in Still Alice.

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The Emerging Talent Award Also Went to an Italian Filmmaker

Italian director and screenwriter Margherita Spampinato was honored alongside Moore with the Women in Motion Emerging Talent Award for her feature Gioia Mia. The award comes with a €50,000 grant toward her next film.

Actor and producer Salma Hayek offered her take on Moore at the event: “She has been consistently brilliant for decades now, she’s an inspiration. Also, her taste is impeccable in material.”

Speaking at a separate event on Saturday, May 16, Moore described efforts to improve female representation the way a mouse gets through a wall: “One bite at a time. You do it slowly, steadily, mindfully. Making choices, speaking up, using your privilege, hiring more.”

Moore closed her remarks at the ceremony with a direct call: “We need more female voices in our industry, more writers, more directors,” she said, noting that just 37.1% of roles in film were played by women and only 9 out of 111 directors of top-grossing U.S. films in 2025 were women, according to Variety.

The 2026 Cannes Film Festival runs through May 23.