by Wanda De Rosa

And the conversations in this year's talk series that rounds out Miu Miu Women's Tales come to a close. During the final panel, which was held yesterday morning in the Veneto Region's pavilion, actresses KiKi Layne and Sarah Gadon, under Penny Martin's guidance, discussed the changes coming to creative industries, their impact on how roles are perceived, and the opportunities opening up for creators.

On her first time around at the Venice Film Festival, KiKi Layne positively glowed with optimism in her sparkling rhinestone top by Miu Miu. Sharing her perspective as a Black American actress, Layne said she had witnessed the changes in the film industry first-hand, with the result that she is now being offered roles playing characters truer and truer to life: roles that defy "the expectations that someone who looks like me should have." Referring to movements such as #MeToo, Layne was proud to point out that, more and more, female solidarity is prompting creative minds to decide for themselves how they would like to be treated inside the film industry.

As for Sarah Gadon, it's no surprise that the Canadian actress and producer, not to mention a Venice jury member this year, takes a more critical view of the changes underway in the film industry. Gadon fondly recalls that The Moth Diaries (2011) was one of the first feature films she starred in that had an entirely female team, which inspired her to explore her own potential to the full. Now that she has gone into the producing end, Gadon says her goal is to bring to the screen stories that nobody ever talks about, like those of Canada's indigenous peoples. Nevertheless, it's Gadon's very insider status that makes her reluctant to predict how far her career as a creator will take her. Real change, she says, though underway, still has to reach the core of an industry - the film industry - that still shies away from taking risks.