The 2021 Oscars ceremony will be unusual in that it will be broadcast from multiple locations, and will honor movies that most people watched via streaming services due to pandemic restrictions. But one of the most historic aspects of this year’s awards show is the inclusion of two women in its Best Director category. The category has long been dominated by men, and has never included more than a single female nominee at a time.
Only five other women have been nominated for Best Director in the 93-year history of the Academy Awards. The first was Lina Wertmuller for Seven Beauties, a 1975 Italian film about a man imprisoned during World War II. Jane Campion was nominated in 1994 for The Piano, a period drama about a psychologically mute woman entering an arranged marriage, and Sophia Coppola was nominated in 2004 for her Tokyo love story Lost in Translation.
As women are given more directing opportunities and more credit for their projects, studio bigwigs may come to recognize—if only from a strictly-business standpoint—that women filmmakers are worth funding and supporting. This could lead to the creation and distribution of more women-helmed films and to a boost in the visibility and reach of empowering stories like Nomadland and Promising Young Woman.