More Female Directors Were Worthy Of A Best Director Nod Than Ever, But Got Shut Out Of The Oscars

More Female Directors Were Worthy Of A Best Director Nod Than Ever, But Got Shut Out Of The Oscars

you’re able to count on one hand the number of female directors who have been nominated for a Best Director Oscar in the award’s 90-year history. You can count on one finger the number of female directors who have won the Best Director prize. But despite their meager showing at awards ceremonies, female directors are thriving in the independent and film festival circuit, with films likeLynne Ramsay’s lean thrillerYou Were Never Really Herewinning the Cannes screenplay prize orDebra Granik’s quietly devastating survival dramaLeave No Traceearning raves at Sundance.Marielle Hellerhelmed the Telluride Film Festival darlingCan You Ever Forgive Me, which earned a whopping three Oscar nominations for acting and screenplay.

But despite the inroads female filmmakers have made, the Best Director category found itself reverting back to the all-male status quo once again.

Since the Oscars held its first ceremony in 1929, only five female directors have earned a Best Director nod: Lina Wertmüller for 1976 forSeven Beauties,Jane Campion for 1993 forThe Piano,Sofia Coppola for 2003 forLost in Translation,Kathryn Bigelow, who in 2009 won forThe Hurt Locker, and finally Greta Gerwig last year forLady Bird.

It feels extra insulting on the heels of Greta Gerwig’s Best Director nod last year that female directors are doing more visibly acclaimed work than ever and getting shut out at the Oscars. At least seven women helmed critical and awards circuit darlings that should have made them eligible for the Best Director nomination — some of which had received Oscar nods in other categories.

Ramsay directed one of the best films of the year, anchored by an also-undervalued performance by Joaquin Phoenix. The Amazon release won two awards at the Cannes Film Festival and earned several nominations at the British Independent Film Awards. According toVariety, Ramsay rivaled Spike Lee for the “most laureled filmmaker on the critics' awards circuit after Alfonso Cuarón.” However,You Were Never Really Herewas more of an underground success, despite Ramsay’s deft direction.

So what are the other contenders? Debra Granik won best director at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association last month for her Sundance darlingLeave No Trace, which could have ostensibly put her on the path for an Oscar nod.Chloe Zhao’s thought-provoking WesternThe Riderwas named the year’s best film by the National Society of Film Critics and the Gotham Film Awards. But the filmmaker who could have most feasibly earned that fifth slot was Marielle Heller, whose dark comedy-dramaCan You Ever Forgive Me?made asurprisingly strong showingin the Oscar nominations this year, earning nods for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Screenplay. A Best Director nod wouldn’t have been out of the question for the director of this sad and funny drama.

Other contenders includeJosie Rourke, whoseMary Queen of Scotsearned two nods for makeup and costume design,Tamara Jenkinswho directed the affecting and intimatePrivate Life,Karyn Kusamafor the gripping crime dramaDestroyer, and Mimi Leder for the inspirational biopicOn the Basis of Sex.

Though the overall statistics for female filmmakers last yearweren’t great, women had been making major inroads in the past decade since Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win Best Director in 2009 forThe Hurt Locker. Patty Jenkins has reportedly negotiated her way to be thehighest-paid female directorin Hollywood. Gerwig came out of the gate running with a Best Director nod for her debut solo feature. And 2018 seemed poised to continue that upward momentum. It’s certainly more progress than the 17-year gap between Lina Wertmuller’s historic 1976 nod was followed up by Jane Campion in 1993, but it’s not enough.