The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has made history this year, with the announcement of the nomination of two female filmmakers for a directing Oscar -- with one being the first woman of color nominated.
This is the first time that more than one woman has been nominated in the same year, and only the sixth year in academy history that a woman has been nominated in the category, according to reporting by the Los Angeles Times.
Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) and Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”) were nominated this year, along with David Fincher (“Mank”), Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”) and Thomas Vinterberg (“Another Round”).
Zhao is the first woman of color ever to be nominated in the Academy's directing category. Zhao and Chung join just four other directors of East Asian descent ever to be nominated in the directing category. Also, Zhao is the first woman of Asian descent to win a Golden Globe for her work on "Nomadland."
Not since Greta Gerwig was nominated for her debut, “Lady Bird,” in 2018, has the Oscar category for directing seen a woman nominee.
Only five women have ever been nominated for the Oscars’ director -- Gerwig, Bigelow, Lina Wertmüller (1976’s “Seven Beauties”), Jane Campion (1993’s “The Piano”), and Sofia Coppola (2003’s “Lost in Translation”).
Kathryn Bigelow is the only woman to take home the prize, for her 2009 film, “The Hurt Locker.”