Natalie Portman arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Image: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Natalie Portman ensured that female filmmakers still made it to the Oscars today, Feb. 10 (Sunday in Los Angeles) despite all-male nominations for the Best Director award.
The actress wore a black cape that had the last names of snubbed female directors embroidered on the left side.
These were Lorene Scafaria (“Hustlers”), Lulu Wang (“The Farewell”), Greta Gerwig (“Little Women”, Mati Diop (“Atlantics”), Marielle Heller (“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”), Melina Matsoukas (“Queen & Slim”), Alma Har’El (“Honey Boy”) and Céline Sciamma (“Portrait of a Lady on Fire”).
Natalie Portman honored female filmmakers at the Oscars with her cape. Image: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
When asked about the tribute to them, she told the Los Angeles Times on the red carpet, “I wanted to recognize the women who were not recognized for their incredible work this year in my subtle way.”
The video interview of Portman on LA Times’ Instagram Stories was reposted on The Cut’s Instagram.
Amid the criticism of a lack of diversity in this year’s Oscar nominations, Korean director Bong Joon-ho went on to win the directing award for “Parasite”, the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture.
Women have only been nominated five times for best director in the last 92 years of the Academy Awards. Kathryn Bigelow is the only woman to have received the coveted award for helming “Hurt Locker” in 2010.
This year, the British Academy Film Awards (Baftas) was also criticized for a lack of women in its best director category for seven consecutive years. JB
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