“I was on the jury for [short film festival] Flickerfest earlier this year and I’ve seen a good chunk of the films, and there’s definitely several by women that could easily have been recognised,” she said.

That sentiment was echoed by Corrie Chen, director of TV series Homecoming Queens, who suggested the festival had failed to “read the room”.

“These nominations come right after Cannes, where the industry felt this quake off the back of #MeToo, so to have only white male directors nominated is very tone deaf,” she said.

The festival program includes 100 short films. A panel of three watched them all over a number of weeks before dedicating a day to rewatching those they felt were contenders for prizes. Those same three will ultimately decide the winners in each of the 16 categories.

The judges are actors Cassandra Magrath and Neil Pigot and actor-producer Edwina Exton.

Pigot appears in Mrs McCutcheon, which is nominated for five awards, including best film, best director and best screenplay. Magrath appears in Liz Drives, which was not nominated.

Chen conceded the gender split of the panel made “unconscious bias” less likely as a factor in the choices, but she had concerns about a possible conflict of interest.

“I think generally with St Kilda Film Festival there needs to be more transparency in how the nominations and judging takes place,” she said.

But festival director Paul Harris defended the nominations and insisted that even if he disagreed with them, there was nothing he could do.

“They work totally independently, I don’t try to sway them, and they were all in agreement on those films,” he said.

Adele Denison, producer of the festival for the City of Port Phillip, acknowledged there was always going to be a risk that some people might perceive conflicts of interest, because the industry is small and there was a high chance a juror will have worked on a film or be close to someone who has.

To deal with that, jurors sign an agreement that includes a conflict-of-interest clause.

“Paul [Harris] and I were present at the judging this year, and every time that happened the person involved identified the conflict and excused themselves,” she said.

And that included both Neil Pigot and Cassandra Magrath?

“Yes. We’re 100 per cent comfortable with the process and the outcome.”

But Alice Foulcher said: “Whether it’s oversight or unconscious bias is irrelevant – there’s opportunity for dialogue and debate once they’ve arrived at their nominations, and in the current climate the gender split should be an important factor. I’m not saying it should be 50:50 but it shouldn’t be so heavily male.”

And if the jury doesn’t agree?

“I think the festival director can and should step in to make sure the selection is a reflection of the quality and diversity of the festival.”