Will the Academy Keep the Momentum For Female Directors? – The Hollywood Reporter
While it’s still early in the Oscar race, there are already several titles on everyone’s must-see list. Among them are The power of the dog, written and directed by Jane Campion – best known for her Oscar-nominated performance Piano 28 years ago, this made her the first female director to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Campion seems like a strong bet to win a Best Director nomination for Netflix Western. Not only is it a rare victory, as women are often looked down upon in this category, but it also makes history, as no woman has ever been nominated in this category twice.
Indeed, only seven women in 93 years have been nominated for best director – and only two have won. Lina Wertmüller is the first woman to be nominated, for Seven beauties in 1977 at the 49th Academy Awards; it will be 16 more years before Campion is nominated for Piano. In 2004, Sofia Coppola was nominated for Lost in translation. And, then, in 2010, Kathryn Bigelow was nominated — and won, making her the first woman to do so — for Wound Locker. In 2017, Greta Gerwig received nominations for Orange beetle. And in 2020, Chloé Zhao and Emerald Fennell are nominated for Wandering and Promising young womanrespectively – the first time many women were nominated in this category in the same year – and Zhao became the second woman to win.
Women are rarely recognized in the director category, but that hasn’t stopped their films from being nominated for Best Picture. For example, Randa Haines’ Children are children of God was nominated for five awards in 1987, including best picture but not best director. Likewise, Barbra Streisand was eliminated for a director nomination for Tide Prince in 1992, despite seven other nominations, including best picture. With much else in between, Ava DuVernay was recently snubbed while her 2014 film Selma was nominated for best picture.
“The women weren’t nominated, but their films did,” said an awards strategist CHEAP. “Some women directing films get Best Picture nominations, but not Best Director, and I don’t see that as much of an improvement. This year, you could have two or three women-directed films getting Best Picture nominations, and maybe one of them will get Best Director.”
The Academy consists of 17 disciplines – actors, directors, cinematographers, costume designers, editing, etc. – each of which selects nominees for the category or categories relevant to their area of expertise. surname; The entire Academy, however, is ranked in the best picture category. Since 2009, the Academy has been able to select more than five best picture nominations, but no more than five best director nominations, which may explain some of the visual/director differences . But it’s hard not to assume that Academy demographics aren’t a factor either. Even after the push to diversify the organization’s 10,509 members in recent years, the proportion is still 66.5% male – in the director branch, 75.6 is male. %. However, the directing branch did not have the most men: Cinematography (90.2%), sound (86.2%), and visual effects (90.1%) had a higher percentage. , according to the number of most recent members of the Academy.
This year, the leaders in the best director race include Campion, as well as Kenneth Branagh (Belfast), Denis Villeneuve (Sand dunes) and Asghar Farhadi (A hero). But there are also more female filmmakers in the conversation than ever before, including Julia Ducournau (whom Titane winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Daughter is gone), Rebecca Hall (Pass), Sian Heder (CODA), Emma Seligman (Shiva Baby) and Liesl Tommy (Respect). If Campion earns a nomination, she’ll achieve something that has eluded everyone before her, most notably Coppola with 2006 Marie Antoinette and 2017 The Beguiled, Bigelow with 2012 Zero Dark Thirty and Gerwig with 2019’s Little woman: specifically an invitation back.
“Joining the conversation is more than half the battle,” said another award strategist CHEAP. “There are more conversations happening than ever about inclusion, diversity, men’s views, women’s views – all of the things that influence the way we see the world and specifically about the movies and who is making them and how their voices mean not only cinema but the larger cultural landscape. ”
The strategist, reflecting on the Oscars ceremony earlier this year, added, “I feel encouraged by Chloé’s win. Sometimes it seems that we take two steps back and two steps forward, but it happens everywhere… Chloé [Zhao] didn’t win because she’s a woman. She won because she made a movie that resonated with so many people.”
And this season, so does Campion – as do many other women.
This story first appeared in the November 17 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe.
