Oscars: Who Was The First Woman To Be Nominated For Best Director?
Only seven women have been nominated for Best Director in Oscar’s 94-years history, but who was the first to achieve this feat? Although the Academy Awards have reinvented itself throughout its decades-old history, with changes in format and voting rules, it has yet to create a tradition of recognizing the work of female directors at a regular rate. Out of the seven nominations mentioned, on only three occasions a woman has won the Oscar for Best Director, the last one being 2022’s Academy Award winner Jane Campion for The Power of the Dog.
Jane Campion's win marked the first time that two subsequent years saw a woman win the Oscar for Best Director. In 2021, Eternals' director Chloé Zhao won this award for Nomadland, a film that also won the Oscar for Best Picture. Decades before those wins, history was created with a woman being nominated for Best Director for the first time.
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The first woman to be nominated for Best Director was Lina Wertmüller in 1977 at the 49th Academy Awards for Seven Beauties (original title Pasqualino Settebellezze). The 1975 Italian film told the story of an army deserter during World War II, his capture, and his family memories. Seven Beauties was nominated for an Oscar in three other categories – Best Actor with Giancarlo Giannini, Best Foreign Language Film, and Best Original Screenplay – but didn't win in any. Lina Wertmüller, who died in December 2021 at the age of 93, was given an Honorary Award at the 2020 Oscars.
It would take 16 years for another woman to be nominated for Best Director after Lina Wertmüller, with Jane Campion being nominated in 1993 for The Piano. Aside from Lina Wertmüller's nomination and Jane Campion's two nominations,
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