Patty Jenkins Disappointed by Lack of Female Directing Nominees at the Oscars

Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins says having no female filmmakers nominated for Best Director at the 91st Academy Awards is “a bummer.”

“I feel like I’m always surprised by people being overlooked. It’s too bad,” Jenkins told Variety at Sundance. “I hope that we can find a way that there can be more attention and representation and fairness in the voting and all of that.”

At the 90th Oscars, Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) was the sole female director nominated for the award ultimately won by Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water).

Plenty of women directed critically acclaimed movies that could’ve been serious awards-season contenders this year. Debra Granik had Leave No Trace, Chloé Zhao had The Rider, Tamara Jenkins had Private Life, Josie Rourke had Mary Queen of Scots, Karyn Kusama had Destroyer, and Lynne Ramsay had You Were Never Really Here.

The first and last female director to win the prize was Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker in 2010. Before Bigelow’s win, Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation) was nominated in the category in 2004 and was only the third woman to be up for the award, following Lina Wertmuller (1976’s Seven Beauties) and Jane Campion (1993’s The Piano).

In February, Adam McKay (Vice), Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman), Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War), Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite) and Alfonso Cuarón (Roma) will compete in the category.

Patty Jenkins does make a compelling point, and it would be a welcome change to see better female representation when it comes to Oscar nominations for Best Director.

Source: Variety