It was no surprise that this year, as it has happened dozens of times before, the Academy didn’t include women directors in the Best Director category. Natalie Portman made sure that everyone remembers these women deserve recognition because their work is as important as the one done by their male counterparts.
She did it in a subtle but powerful way: by featuring their names embroidered in the Dior cape she wore at the Oscars red carpet. The female filmmakers that Portman included are Greta Gerwig (Little Women), Lorene Scafaria (Hustlers), Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood), Mati Diop (Atlantics), Melina Matsoukas (Queen & Slim), Alma Har’el (Honey Boy), Céline Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady on Fire), and Lulu Wang (The Farewell).
“I wanted to recognize the women who were not recognized for their incredible work this year in my subtle way,” she said in an interview with local media.
Portman has been very vocal about the lack of female representation at the Academy previously, when two years ago she said “…here are the all-male nominees,” when presenting the category.
In fact, Gerwig is one of the only five women that have been nominated for Best Director at the Oscars in history. It was in 2019 for Lady Bird.
In more than 90 years of Academy Awards, a woman has won the Best Director award just once. It was Katheryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker in 2010.
This year’s all-male nominees are Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Todd Phillips (Joker), Sam Mendes (1917), Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), and Bong Joon Ho (Parasite).
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