Zoe Saldaña said at the Locarno Film Festival this week that she finds it frustrating when political questions in Q&A sessions are directed primarily at women and people of color rather than distributed evenly across the people on stage.
Saldaña, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2025 for her role in Emilia Pérez, said she attends Q&As because she wants to discuss acting. That is not usually what she ends up talking about, according to Variety.
"One thing that's incredibly limiting, and frustrating, is when I'm the only person of color or the only woman on stage, and that happens quite a lot for women and for people of color. And I wait for my turn to be asked a question about my craft, and I'm asked the political question," Saldaña said, offering a specific example: "What do you think we need to do to make films more inclusive?"
She was direct about where she thinks those questions should go instead. "I'm sorry, you don't ask the only person that comes from the marginalized community," Saldaña said. "You ask the other 80 of them that are part of the gatekeepers, and you ask them if they know the answer because I think that we're making people of color work double to be in a room."
Saldaña did not name specific press tours where this pattern occurred. She was, however, asked about Emilia Pérez offending Mexican audiences just minutes after winning her Oscar in 2025. A journalist in the press room told her that the film had been "really hurtful for us Mexicans." Saldaña responded at the time: "First of all, I'm very, very sorry that many Mexicans felt offended. That was never our intention. We spoke from a place of love. I don't share your opinion. For me, the heart of this movie was not Mexico. We were making a film about friendship. We were making a film about four women."
She continued: "These women could have been Russian, could have been Dominican, could have been Black from Detroit, could have been from Israel, could have been from Gaza. And these women are still very universal women that are struggling every day, but trying to survive systemic oppression and trying to find the most authentic voices. So I will stand by that, but I'm also always open to sit down with all of my Mexican brothers and sisters, with love and respect, [to have] a great conversation on how 'Emilia Pérez' could have been done better. I welcome it."
Saldaña is currently starring in the third season of Lioness on Paramount+, which has made a notable format shift this season. The show, created by Taylor Sheridan, has moved away from its previous linear storytelling structure and now runs two concurrent timelines, one set in the past and one in the present. Both center on Saldaña's character, Joe McNamara, a senior CIA case officer. In the present timeline, Joe's family is under siege. The past storyline tracks the events that led to that moment.
The dual-timeline approach is a first for the series, which debuted in 2021, according to Screen Rant. In earlier seasons, Joe's professional life as head of the Lioness program and her home life as a wife and mother remained sharply separate. Season three pulls those worlds into direct collision.
At Locarno, Saldaña received a Special Honorary Pardo from festival director Giona Nazzaro.
