Helen Mirren calls for more female directors

The 66-year-old Oscar-winning actress, who is married to moviemaker Taylor Hackford, received the award at a ceremony in the Czech Republic.

Helen Mirren

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 "Sleepless in Seattle" writer Nora Ephron, who passed away last week.

"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," she said.u00a0