Awards

2020 Oscar Noms: Women Shut Out of Directing Race (Yet Again) But Clean Up in Doc Category

"Little Women"

The Academy Awards is celebrating its 92nd edition this year. Nominees for the biggest awards show of the season just dropped, and women directors have been excluded from the best director category for the second year in a row. Just five women have ever been nominated for the honor: Lina Wertmüller (“Seven Beauties”), Jane Campion (“The Piano”), Sofia Coppola (“Lost in Translation”), Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”), and Greta Gerwig (“Lady Bird”). Bigelow is the sole woman to claim the prize.

This year’s viable contenders included Gerwig (“Little Women”), Lulu Wang (“The Farewell”), Lorene Scafaria (“Hustlers”), Marielle Heller (“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”), Alma Har’el (“Honey Boy”), and Melina Matsoukas (“Queen & Slim”), among others. Instead, we got an all-male directing category. Again.

The Best Picture category is also dominated by male-directed titles. “Little Women” is the only film helmed by a woman in the running for the award, which features nine nominees. The coming-of-age drama is also the only women-centric story up for the honor.

Gerwig did land a nod for Adapted Screenplay for her take on Louisa May Alcott’s beloved 1868 novel depicting the trials and tribulations of the March sisters. Gerwig is the only woman nominated in the category, though Krysty Wilson-Cairns was recognized in the Original Screenplay category for co-writing WWI drama “1917” alongside director Sam Mendes.

Ten women are up for acting honors, and nine of them are white. Cynthia Erivo is the lone woman of color to receive a nomination. She scored a Best Actress nod for Kasi Lemmons’ biopic of Harriet Tubman, “Harriet.” She’s joined by Scarlett Johansson (“Marriage Story”), Saoirse Ronan (“Little Women”), Charlize Theron (“Bombshell”), and Renée Zellweger (“Judy”). Awkwafina just won Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes for “The Farewell,” but the Oscars failed to recognize the critically acclaimed crowdpleaser in any category, including Best Actress.

The Supporting Actress category is composed of Kathy Bates (“Richard Jewell”), Laura Dern (“Marriage Story”), Scarlett Johansson (“Jojo Rabbit”), Florence Pugh (“Little Women”), and Margot Robbie (“Bombshell”). We were surprised — and disappointed — to see Jennifer Lopez’s name omitted from the supporting category, as her turn in “Hustlers” has been receiving well-deserved raves since the pic premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September.

“Honeyland” snagged a nomination in both the International Feature and Documentary Feature categories. Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov’s portrait of the last woman working as a wild beekeeper in Europe is one of four women-directed or co-directed titles competing in the latter category. The Sundance winner is joined by Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar’s “American Factory,” Petra Costa’s “The Edge of Democracy,” and Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts’ “For Sama.” The Documentary Feature category is one of the few bright spots at the Oscars this year.

Notably absent from the Animated Feature Film category is Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck’s “Frozen II.” No women-directed titles are up for that award. Cinematography is yet another category that features zero women nominees.

Thelma Schoonmaker snagged a Film Editing nod for her work on “The Irishman.”

As is usually the case, women fared well in the Costume Design category, where nominees include Mayes C. Rubeo (“Jojo Rabbit”), Jacqueline Durran (“Little Women”), Arianne Phillips (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”), and Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson (“The Irishman”).

Head over to The Hollywood Reporter to check out all of the nominees, including Best Original Song. The Academy Awards will take place February 9.


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