Exactly zero women were up for Best Director at last night’s Academy Awards, but Natalie Portman helped ensure that some of 2019’s leading female filmmakers got attention on film’s biggest night. The Oscar-winning “Black Swan” actress paid tribute to them by making a bold fashion statement and drawing attention to their snubs donning a cape embroidered with names including Lorene Scafaria (“Hustlers”), Lulu Wang (“The Farewell”), Greta Gerwig (“Little Women”), Marielle Heller (“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”), Melina Matsoukas (“Queen & Slim”), Alma Har’el (“Honey Boy”), Céline Sciamma (“Portrait of a Lady on Fire”), and Mati Diop (“Atlantics”).
At the 2018 Golden Globes the “A Tale of Love and Darkness” writer, director, and star famously introduced the Best Director category with, “And here are the all-male nominees.”
Five women have been nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards: 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.
Julia Reichert sent a message to her fellow female filmmakers in the press room after winning the Best Documentary statuette for “American Factory,” a look inside what happens when a Chinese billionaire opens a factory in Ohio. Women directed or co-directed four of five titles up for the honor. Reichert preached the value of “sisterhood, which is another way of saying solidarity, which is another way of saying support each other.”
“When I first came to the Oscars in 1977, it was a sea of white men, just a sea of white men, in the press corps, all those photographers, it’s getting better,” Reichert observed. “Now how did that happen? It’s not by individual women, it’s because we started realizing, we gotta work together. We gotta support each other and not fit into the patriarchy, like not fit into the boys’ club. So what would I say? We don’t have to do it the way the boys have done it. We can do it the way that women want it to be done, whatever it is.”
Portman was far from the only person to comment on the lack of recognition for women directors at the ceremony. Chris Rock and Steve Martin joked about their absence, as well as the lack of people of color up for honors, as did others. “Harriet’s” Cynthia Erivo was the only person of color up for an acting award, an unfortunate distinction that she has spoken out about. Erivo described her Best Actress nod as “a moment for celebration, but it also is a real eye-opener.” She explained, “It can’t just be me alone. There’s just such good work going on and this may sound fatalistic, but I would hate for people’s work to have gone by and then for us to have looked back and go, ‘Oh, I wish we would’ve given roses,’ when people aren’t there to actually receive them. I don’t want us to do that.”
“Jojo Rabbit” writer, director, and star Taika Waititi became the first Māori person to win an Oscar when he accepted the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. “I dedicate this to all the indigenous kids in the world who want to do art and dance and write stories,” he said. “We are the original storytellers and we can make it here as well.”
It’s also being reported that “Parasite” producer Kwak Sin-ae became the first woman of color to win the Best Picture Oscar. The big winner of the night, the film snagged four statuettes and became the first non-English language film to take home Best Picture.
A fact that went underreported in a wildness of last night; producer Kwak Sin-ae is the first woman of color to win Best Picture. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/R8HUQb9CeW
— Erik Anderson (@awards_watch) February 10, 2020
Eímear Noone conducted at the ceremony, cementing her place in history as the first woman to ever do so at the Academy Awards. She conducted excerpts from the five features nominated for Best Original Score.
Also making history at the 92nd edition of the Oscars was the winner of that category, “Joker” composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, who became the first woman to take home the honor for a film score since 1997. ““To the girls, to the women, to the mothers, to the daughters, who hear the music bubbling within, please speak up,” she urged at the podium. We need to hear your voices.” “The last women to win the score award were Anne Dudley, in 1997 for ‘The Full Monty,’ and Rachel Portman, in 1996 for ‘Emma.’ Both won the award for best original musical or comedy score, when there were still two different scores given every year, the other one being for drama score,” Variety details. “The only woman to win a score award before that was Marilyn Bergman, who shared a ‘Yentl’ win in 1983 with husband Alan Bergman and Michel Legrand, for song score, a category that was later phased out.”
Check out all of the 2020 Oscar winners over at the Academy’s website.
