Generally speaking I am not a big follower of the “Awards season” which finished with the Oscars on the 4th March. However this year’s season and in the Oscars in particular threw up a couple of nominations of note.
Greta Gerwig, director of Ladybird, became the 5th female director to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar in the Academy’s history (the first awards being in 1929) after missing out on a Golden Globe nomination, in what was an all male director short list (to the frustration of some). The first women to be nominated for Best Director was Lina Wertmuller in 1976 – and to date Kathryn Bigelow’s win in 2010 for The Hurt Locker is the only one for a female director. Bigelow also remains the only women to win the BAFTA Best Director again in 2010 for the same film.
A small piece of history was made in the director of photography or cinematography category when Rachel Morrison became the first women to nominated for Best Cinematography for her work on Mudbound. Morrison was not nominated for a BAFTA in the same category and a quick review of cinematography winners didn’t show any women to win the award (and if I have missed one please do let me know).
Neither Gerwig or Morrison won at the ceremony on 4th March – as I said a minute step forward.