Female directors are taking center stage as 2020's awards season begins.
The Gotham Awards, which recognizes independent films and is one of a number of awards shows that takes place each year prior to the Oscars, unveiled its 2020 nominees on Thursday, and for the first time ever, all five of the films nominated for Best Feature were directed by women, reports Variety.
The nominees in the top category were Kitty Green's The Assistant, Kelly Reichardt's First Cow, Eliza Hittman's Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Chloé Zhao's Nomadland, and Natalie Erika James' Relic.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Films that pick up nods at the Gotham Awards don't always go on to receive Oscars love; of the five movies nominated for Best Feature by the Gotham Awards last year, just one, Marriage Story, was ultimately nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Still, in an unusual year that has seen many splashy film releases delayed due to COVID-19, pundits believe there may be room for movies that might ordinarily get overlooked by the Oscars, including Nomadland, to fare well and potentially even win the top prize.
The Academy has also famously been criticized for repeatedly overlooking women for Best Director at the Oscars, and just five female directors have ever been nominated in that category. At the most recent Oscars, no women were nominated for Best Director. But for the 2021 Oscars, with contenders including Reichardt and Zhao as well as Regina King among others, another all-male category seems unlikely.
The 30th Gotham Awards are scheduled for Jan. 11.
-
Should you add your child to your credit card?The Explainer You can make them an authorized user on your account in order to help them build credit
-
Cracker Barrel crackup: How the culture wars are upending corporate brandingIn the Spotlight Is it 'woke' to leave nostalgia behind?
-
'It's hard to discern what it actually means'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
