Golden Globes make history by nominating three female directors in the same year
By Lacy Baugher
The Golden Globes made history this week, nominating three women for best directing honors for the first time ever – Chloe Zhao for Nomadland, Regina King for One Night in Miami, and Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman.
This groundbreaking development comes after six straight years in which no women at all were included in the directing category at all, and marks the first time that more than one woman has even been nominated at the same time. This is also the first time that the director category has included more female nominees than male ones.
And all we can say is: Finally.
A record-breaking number of women directed films last year, after all – and though the industry still has a long way to go to achieve anything like real gender parity, these are both important steps in the right direction.
Because despite this exciting stat, Zhao, King, and Fennell still each represent just the eighth, ninth, and tenth time that a woman has been nominated for this prestigious award at all, and the first Golden Globes ceremony was held all the way back in 1944. And if we’re honest – the Oscars are even worse, having nominated just five women in a span of 92 years. (Here’s hoping that changes this year, too.)
The previous seven Golden Globes female directing nominees are Barbra Streisand (Yentl in 1984 and The Prince of Tides in 1991), Jane Campion (The Piano in 1994), Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation in 2004), Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker in 2010 and Zero Dark Thirty in 2013), and Ava DuVernay (Selma in 2015). So far, Streisand has been the only woman to actually win.
Statistically speaking, one would have to assume that a woman would be most likely to walk away with the trophy this year, but when three women with their first nominations are being put up against big established names like David Fincher (Mank) and Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7) it’s hard to be but so optimistic.
Maybe the Hollywood Foreign Press will surprise me again this winter. The Golden Globes ceremony will air on February 28.
Next. A record number of films were directed by women in 2020. dark
What was your favorite movie directed by a woman this year? Sound off in the comments.