6 Women Who REALLY Should’ve Been Nominated For Best Director Oscars
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The 2017 Oscar nominations were announced this week. The list is surprising in ways good and bad, with both history-making nods and total snubs. One category, though, is depressingly male-dominated: Best Director.
The list is, as per usual, all male: Denis Villeneuve (Arrival), Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge), Damien Chazelle (La La Land), Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea) and Barry Jenkins (Moonlight).
Stunningly, only four women have ever been nominated for Best Director. (Kathryn Bigelow is the only one to have won for 2010's The Hurt Locker.) That figure is dismal — and ultimately, reflective of the consistent absence of women behind the camera in Hollywood.
The trend continues this year, as a number of the women who helmed critically lauded films in 2016 were overlooked, including Jodie Foster for Money Monster, Andrea Arnold for American Honey, and Mira Nair for Queen of Katwe. (The fact that they didn't receive recognition is only more frustrating in light of the fact that Gibson managed to do so. )
Ahead, the women who really, truly should've been nominated for Best Director this year.
Just 7% of 2016's top films were directed by women. Refinery29 wants to change this by giving 12 female directors a chance to claim their power. Our message to Hollywood? You can't win without women. Watch new films every month on Refinery29.com/Shatterbox and Comcast Watchable.
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