Oscar nominations are upon us, and Jane Campion is making history. Again. The first woman to claim Cannes Film Festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or, is now the first woman to be nominated for Best Director twice. “The Power of the Dog,” her first film in over a decade, also leads in nominations, with a whopping 12 overall, including Best Picture. One other woman-directed film is featured in that race: Siân Heder’s “CODA,” a coming-of-age story about an aspiring singer who is the only hearing member in a Deaf family.
Both Campion and Heder scored nods in the Adapted Screenplay category. They’re joined by Maggie Gyllenhaal, who is being recognized for “The Lost Daughter,” her adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel about an ambivalent mother. Gyllenhaal also directed the pic.
Women are shut out of the Original Screenplay category, and none of the titles up for Best International Feature Film of the Year are helmed by women. Three of five titles in the running for Best Documentary Feature are directed or co-directed by women: “Ascension,” Jessica Kingdon’s visual essay about the modern “Chinese dream,” “Writing with Fire,” Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s tribute to an Indian newspaper run by women, and “Attica,” Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry’s look inside one of the largest U.S. prison riots ever. “Encanto,” co-directed by Charise Castro Smith, is the sole Best Animated Feature Film nominee from a woman director or co-director.
Actresses up for honors include Olivia Colman (“The Lost Daughter”), Penélope Cruz (“Parallel Mothers”), Kirsten Dunst (“The Power of the Dog”), and Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”). The former two are featured in the leading actress category and the latter two supporting.
The Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) category includes two of the biggest music stars on the planet: Beyoncé is being honored for “Be Alive” from “King Richard” and Billie Eilish for “No Time to Die” from “No Time to Die.” Diane Warren also landed a nom, her 13th, for “Somehow You Do” from “Four Good Days.”
Other women nominees include Denise Yarde, part of the “Belfast” team up for Achievement in Sound, and Pamela Martin, who is in the running for Achievement in Film Editing for “King Richard.”
Head over to Variety to check out all of the nominees.