Helen Mirren - Dame Helen Mirren Calls For More Female Directors

The Oscar winner, who is married to moviemaker Taylor Hackford, received a lifetime achievement award at the European country's annual Karlovy Vary International Film event.

After taking to the stage to collect the honour, she called for more women to get behind the camera and follow in the footsteps of Nora Ephron, who passed away last week (begs25Jun12).

She told the audience, "When I was making those (early) films, they were very, very few female directors, and there were certainly no women on set, which made taking one's clothes off all the more difficult.

"Things have moved on, but as far as I'm concerned, they haven't moved on enough. I don't know how many female directors are presenting their films in this festival. I very much doubt that it's 50 per cent. Not too many, I'm sure."