By Ashley Lee
Los Angeles Times
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Female directors were shut out despite the numerous women who directed acclaimed movies in the past year, including Chloe Zhao (“The Rider”), Lynne Ramsay (“You Were Never Really Here”), and Tamara Jenkins (“Private Life”).
Los Angeles Times
Once again, the Oscar race to be named best director has narrowed down to five male nominees.
The 2019 Oscar nominations, which were announced on Tuesday morning, did not include any female directors.
Instead, this year’s nominees in the directing category are Spike Lee (“BlacKkKlansman”), Adam McKay (“Vice”), Alfonso Cuaron (“Roma”), Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Favourite”) and Pawel Pawlikowski (“Cold War”).
Female directors were shut out despite the numerous women who directed acclaimed movies in the past year, including Chloe Zhao (“The Rider”), Lynne Ramsay (“You Were Never Really Here”), Tamara Jenkins (“Private Life”), Debra Granik (“Leave No Trace”), Marielle Heller (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”) and Karyn Kusama (“Destroyer”), to name a few. (Three of them, Granik, Jenkins and Ramsay, have been nominated for Independent Spirit Awards.)
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled its list of contenders after the all-male announcements from the Directors Guild of America, the Golden Globes and the Critics’ Choice Awards.
Only five women have ever been nominated for the Oscars’ director honor throughout the awards ceremony’s history: Lina Wertmuller (1976’s “Seven Beauties”), Jane Campion (1993’s “The Piano”), Sofia Coppola (2003’s “Lost in Translation”), Kathryn Bigelow (2009’s “The Hurt Locker”) and Greta Gerwig (2017’s “Lady Bird”). Bigelow is the category’s only female winner.
The winners of the 91st Academy Awards will be revealed on Feb. 24.
