The lack of opportunities for women has been an important issue facing studios in recent years, but a new study of American film festivals, which have long served as talent spotters for Hollywood, shows that they too have a ways to go. The Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film at San Diego State University examined 23 festivals held since last June in the United States and found that their programmers selected features directed by men three times as often as those made by women, according to the report released Wednesday. The findings also showed that programmers chose twice as many documentaries directed by men. Overall, 29 percent of the directors of independent movies in these festivals were women, a rise of 1 percentage point over the previous year and an increase of 7 percentage points since 2008-9. Women fared better in another key role — they made up 32 percent of the producers on the films studied

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