Awards, Documentary, News

The Good and the Bad Among the 2014 Oscar Nominees

2013 was an even-worse-than-usual year for non-acting women in Hollywood — only 6% of the 250 top-grossing films were directed by female filmmakers and just 10% written by female screenwriters — so it’s no surprise to us that there’s little to celebrate about this year’s nominees.

Women and Hollywood’s Oscar columnist Susan Wloszczyna will have more detailed commentary later this morning, but here are some quick observations about the 2014 nominees:

— There are no women-directed films in the Best Picture or Best Foreign-Language Film categories this year. Only two of the nine Best Picture nominees feature female protagonists (Gravity and Philomena). I hope Ellen can raise our spirits during the ceremony, because this situation makes us pretty depressed.

— Though Philomena had been shut out of most critics’ awards, it apparently made a strong impression on the Academy, earning nods for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Original Score. The Oscars love Judi Dench, and who can blame them?

— Neither Oprah Winfrey nor Octavia Spencer got a Best Supporting Actress nod, but 12 Years a Slave’s Lupita Nyong’o did. She joins her 12 Years co-star Chiwetel Ejiofor and Captain Philips’ Barkhad Abdi as the acting nominees of color. Three black thespians among the twenty acting nominees must be some kind of Oscar record, no? Also to note: 12 Years director Steve McQueen is only the third black director and 12 Years screenwriter John Ridley only the fourth black screenwriter to be nominated. (No black filmmaker has won the Oscar Best Director prize.)

— The average age of the Best Actress nominees is 55.

— Congrats to Jennifer Lee (Frozen) and Jehane Noujaim (The Square) for being the only female directors in their categories, Best Animated Film and Best Documentary, respectively. Documentary is always a competitive field, but it also tends to be less plagued by industry sexism as a whole, so the collective snubs of high-profile documentarians Gabriela Cowperthwaite (Blackfish), Lucy Walker (The Crash Reel), and Sarah Polley’s (Stories We Tell) aren’t just disappointing but surprising.

— Two women screenwriters, Julie Delpy (Before Midnight) and Melisa Wallack (Dallas Buyers Club) co-penned their Oscar-nominated scripts.

Scroll down for the Academy-approved women-centric films and female nominees:

Best
motion picture of the year

Gravity — Alfonso Cuaron and David Heyman, Producers

Philomena — Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan and Tracey Seaward, Producers

Performance
by an actress in a leading role

Amy Adams in American Hustle

Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine

Sandra Bullock in Gravity

Judi Dench in Philomena

Meryl Streep in August: Osage County

Performance
by an actress in a supporting role

Sally Hawkins in Blue Jasmine

Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle

Lupita Nyong’o in 12 Years a Slave

Julia Roberts in August: Osage County

June Squibb in Nebraska

Adapted
screenplay

Before Midnight — Written by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke

Original
screenplay

Dallas Buyers Club — Written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack

Best
animated feature film of the year

Frozen — Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee and Peter Del Vecho

Achievement
in costume design

The Great Gatsby — Catherine Martin

12 Years a Slave — Patricia Norris

Best
documentary feature

The Square — Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer

Best
documentary short subject

Karama Has No Walls — Sara Ishaq

Achievement
in makeup and hairstyling

Dallas Buyers Club — Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews

The Lone Ranger — Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny

Achievement
in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

“Let It Go” from Frozen

Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
“The Moon Song” from Her

Music by Karen O; Lyric by Karen O and Spike Jonze

Achievement
in production design

American Hustle — Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Heather Loeffler

Gravity — Production Design: Andy Nicholson; Set Decoration: Rosie Goodwin and
Joanne Woollard

The Great Gatsby — Production Design: Catherine Martin; Set Decoration: Beverley
Dunn

12 Years a Slave — Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Alice
Baker

Best
animated short film

Get a Horse! — Lauren MacMullan and Dorothy McKim

Best
live action short film

Pitaako Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?) — Selma
Vilhunen and Kirsikka Saari


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