On Sunday, Hollywood celebrated the most awaited award ceremony of the year, the Oscars. It was a star-studded affair and all the stalwarts of the film industry walked the red carpet on that day. Each star made heads turn but it was Natalie Portman who caught our attention. The academy award-winning actress wore a gown with a cape from the house of Dior. But you all must be wondering what’s so unusual or different about that? Natalie’s gown included the names of female directors whose movies were critically appreciated but didn’t make it to the Oscars. She said,
“I wanted to recognise the women who were not recognised for their incredible work this year in a subtle way.”
It has not happened for the first time, for the second straight year female directors were not included in the Oscars. The names of the nominees were announced last month and the list did not include any female director and it has been greatly criticized by people. Similarly, in 2018 when director nominees didn’t have any female director, Natalie pointed it out on stage when she was up there to present the award. While presenting the best award, she passed a comment, saying “here are the all the male nominees”, before announcing the names of the nominees. In the history of ninety-two years of the Oscar Awards, only five women were nominated for the Best Director category. The names in the gown of the actress were Lorene Scafaria (Hustlers), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Greta Gerwig (Little Women), Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood), Melina Matsoukas (Queen & Slim), Alma Har’el (Honey Boy), Celine Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) and Mati Diop (Atlantics).
