Dame Emma Thompson criticises the film industry for 'not allowing women to fail' while 'men fail time and again, yet still get work' - as she promotes harrowing new documentary Mediha

Dame Emma Thomson believes men have more chance of succeeding in the film industry because women are 'not allowed to fail.' 

The celebrated actress has enjoyed an illustrious career on stage and screen since rising to prominence in 1987 TV dramas Tutti Frutti and Fortunes Of War. 

But Thompson, 65, believes there is a notable lack of support and exposure for women's voices within the film industry.  

'It would be great if the film industry would allow women to fail - that would be great, and to try again,' she said. 

'Men can fail time and again, yet they still get work, I just don’t understand it. Women fail once and then it’s, "oh well you don’t get to do this again". That would be good.'

The British star is currently promoting Mediha, the Hasan Oswald directed documentary about Mediha Ibrahim Alhamad, a 10-year old girl who was kidnapped during the 2014 Sinjar massacre and sold into sexual slavery by ISIS. 

Executively produced by Thompson, the film charts the difficulties Mediha faced following her release from captivity and relocation to a camp for internally displaced people in Iraqi Kurdistan.

And the actress says she has developed a unique bond with the documentary's principal subject - but is yet to meet her in person. 

'It mostly revolves around handbags,' she explained. 'I felt that the one thing I could offer was a sort of Western, maternal, safe place and a bit of a gift. Useful things - things that she can take. 

'I sent her a backpack. We had lots of back and forth about this - it’s kind of gone on for years, so she’s got her backpack full of her stuff for school, that’s all sorted.' 

She added: We haven’t met in person yet, because she wasn’t allowed to come to this (screening), but we will. 

'You know I have a bit of a dream, and my dream is to take her swimming, because one of the things that struck me most when I first saw the movie was that she wasn’t allowed to go swimming, and her brothers were swimming, and I thought that’s a very difficult thing to be locked out of.'

Thompson is also starring in the upcoming Apple TV+ series Down Cemetery Road,  an adaptation of Mick Herron's 2003 first novel - the first in a four-book series.

When a house explodes in a quiet Oxford suburb and a young girl disappears in the aftermath, Sarah Tucker - a young married woman, bored and unhappy with domestic life (Ruth Wilson) - becomes obsessed with finding her.

She enlists the help of private eye Zoë Boehm, who is played by Emma.

The synopsis for the upcoming series reads: 'When a house explodes in a quiet Oxford suburb and a girl disappears in the aftermath, neighbour Sarah Tucker becomes obsessed with finding her - and enlists the help of private investigator Zoë Boehm.

'Zoë and Sarah suddenly find themselves in a complex conspiracy that reveals that people long believed dead are still among the living, while the living are fast joining the dead.'

Doc NYC award-winning documentary Mediha is in cinemas now