She added: “A woman will get a shot, and if she does not succeed, that shuts things down for years to come until an opportunity comes again for another woman to get that shot…

“So I am so grateful for our film to be a part of the festival, but I really, really want it to perform well, because there’s so much talent out there and there are so many talented directors.”

The importance of this recognition was highlighted after a recent New York Times analysis found that out of 1,034 films in the Criterion Collection – regarded as including the “giants of 20th-century cinema” – only nine had Black directors.

Also, another recent report found that there are 22 male directors for every female director.

Venice Film Festival 2020: how Regina King just made history at the event