The nominees for this year’s Academy Awards were announced today (January 24), while no woman was nominated for Best Director.
The nominees include Steven Spielberg, Martin McDonagh, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, as well as Ruben Ostlund for the films “Fabelmans”, “Banshees from Inisherin”, “Everything Everywhere, All at Once” and “Triangle of Sadness”, respectively.
However, many noted that “Women Speak”, nominated for “Best Film” and “Adapted Screenplay”, could be recognized by director Sarah Polley.
Gina Prince-Bythewood was recently nominated for a BAFTA Award for her production of The Woman King, and the writer and director of After Sunset, Charlotte Wells, was also excluded from this category.
“After several years in a row when a female director won the Oscar for Best Director, today women are completely excluded from this category,” commented New York Times reporter Kyle Buchanan.
After back-to-back years where a female filmmaker won the best-director Oscar, women were shut out of the category entirely today.
— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) January 24, 2023
The Women In Film organization criticized the Academy for excluding female directors this year, saying in a statement received by #Oscar: “Once again, Academy voters have shown that they do not value women’s voices by excluding us from the nominations for best director.
“The Academy Award is more than a golden statue, it is a career accelerator that can lead to continued work and increased remuneration.
“That’s why WIF will continue to advocate for the inclusion of talented female directors such as Sarah Polley’s Talking Women, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King, Maria Schroeder’s She Said, Chinoni Chukwu’s Till, and Charlotte Wells’ After Sunburn.”
Take a look at some other social reactions here:
The #Oscars when asked about women directors pic.twitter.com/u8TdB0yW5B
— semi-active on here (@fagittarius_jd) January 24, 2023
No women nominated as best director for an Oscar pic.twitter.com/tCURXa62vD
— mira (@mirahalle) January 24, 2023
Paul Mescal was nominated for his first Oscar for Wells’ work After Sunset and was one of several Irish artists to receive Academy recognition.
In “Banshee Inisherina,” Colin Farrell received his first nomination, while the Irish-language film “The Quiet Girl” also received recognition.
The Academy Award ceremony will take place at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood “Ovation” in Los Angeles, and the host will be Jimmy Kimmel.
The full list of Oscar nominees can be viewed here. The 95th Academy Awards Ceremony will take place on Sunday, March 12, at 20:00 Eastern time/17:00 Pacific time.
