For the first time in its 93-year history, the Academy Awards has a Best Director race that includes two women nominees. Oscar nominations are in, and Chloé Zhao and Emerald Fennell both landed nods. Prior to today, just five women had ever been nominated in the category: 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 ever win the honor, which is favored to go to Zhao this year. Zhao is the first woman of color to be nominated.
This is a historic moment. Awards shows often get it wrong, and as this year’s Golden Globes scandal illustrated, the voting process in some orgs is dubious at best, but Oscar nominations still matter. They still carry capital. The awards show viewed as the industry’s single biggest event is honoring two women directors for the first time, and that sends a powerful message. Millions of viewers at home will be watching Zhao and Fennell’s work recognized. We’re hopeful that one day a Best Director category with two women nominees won’t be notable, but it certainly registers as such today.
Zhao’s “Nomadland,” a portrait of a woman who moves into her camper van and travels across the American West, and Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman,” a revenge thriller about a former med student who tracks down sexual predators, also scored noms for Best Picture. Zhao is up for Adapted Screenplay and Fennell for Original Screenplay. The Adapted Screenplay category also includes “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” co-writers Erica Rivinoja and Jena Friedman. Fennell is the only woman nominated in the Original Screenplay category. Zhao landed a nod for Achievement in Film Editing, a category with no other women nominees.
Zhao and Fennell aren’t the only women making history this year. Viola Davis has become the most-nominated Black actress in Oscar history. Her nomination for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” is her fourth to date, and follows noms for “Doubt,” “The Help,” and “Fences.” She won for the latter.
Overall, nine non-white actors are nominated in acting categories, an all-time high.
In other encouraging news, the Best Documentary Feature category includes five nominees, and four of them are directed or co-directed by women: Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht’s “Crip Camp,” Maite Alberdi’s “The Mole Agent,” Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed’s “My Octopus Teacher,” and Garrett Bradley’s “Time.”
Two of five titles up for Best International Feature Film of the Year are directed by women: Kaouther Ben Hania’s “The Man Who Sold His Skin” and Jasmila Žbanić’s “Quo Vadis, Aida?” The former is representing Tunisia and the latter Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Oscars are being held April 25. Head over to the Academy’s website to check out all of the nominees.
