All the Oscar Best Picture Nominees Directed by Women

Nearly six decades after the Oscars were first awarded, “Children of a Lesser God” became the first movie directed by a woman to be nominated for Best Picture. The movie, which was Randa Haines’ feature film directorial debut, tells the story of a teacher at a school for the deaf, played by William Hurt, who falls in love with a deaf female janitor, played by Marlee Matlin. Matlin, who is deaf in real life, won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

“Awakenings” tells the story of a doctor, played by Robin Williams, who works with a group of catatonic patients in the 1960s and treats them with a drug that was used to treat Parkinson’s disease at the time. In addition to Best Picture, the movie was also nominated for best writing and for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Robert De Niro). The movie’s director Penny Marshall, who also directed another Oscar-nominated movie, “Big,” as well as “A League of Their Own” has never been nominated for an Oscar.

By the time Barbra Streisand directed “The Prince of Tides,” which follows a psychiatrist (Barbra Streisand), who falls in love with a patient (Nick Nolte), she was already the only woman to have won a Golden Globe for Best Director – Motion Picture. (She remained the only one until 2021, when Chloé Zhao won for “Nomandland.) “The Prince of Tides” was nominated for a total of seven Oscars. Though not for directing, Streisand has won two Oscars — for Best Original Song from “A Star is Born” (1976) and for Best Actress in a Leading Role for “Funny Girl” (1968).

Technically, Lina Wertmüller was the first woman nominated for Best Director, for the movie “Seven Beauties” — but the movie was nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Jane Campion was the first to be nominated for directing a Best Picture nominee — “The Piano.” “The Piano” follows a mute pianist (Holly Hunter), who enters into an arranged marriage with a wealthy landowner (Sam Neill) but soon falls in love with a plantation worker. Campion did not win for directing, but she won an Oscar for best writing for “The Piano.”

A decade after Campion’s nomination for directing, Sofia Coppola was nominated for Best Director for “Lost in Translation.” The film follows an fading actor (Bill Murray) and a young, neglected wife who form an unlikely bond of friendship in Tokyo. Similarly to Campion, Coppola won an Oscar for writing the movie, but not for directing.

“Little Miss Sunshine” follows a dysfunctional family who goes on a cross-country trip in order to get their young daughter, played by Abigail Breslin, into the finals of a beauty pageant. The movie was nominated for four Oscars, winning two — Alan Arkin for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Michael Arndt for Best Writing, Original Screenplay.

Kathryn Bigelow made history at the Oscars in 2010. Her low-budget, apolitical Iraq war film “The Hurt Locker” won a total of six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. Bigelow is the first woman — and so far the only one — to win the Best Director award at the Oscars. The movie follows three American soldiers, members of a bomb-disposal unit in Baghdad, who are at the end of their tours.

Bigelow was the only woman nominated for Best Director at the 2010 Oscars, though her movie was not the only one directed by a woman nominated for Best Picture. “An Education,” directed by Lone Scherfig, is the coming-of-age story of a rich teenage girl (Carey Mulligan) in the 1960s who meets a playboy (Peter Sarsgaard) nearly twice her age. Scherfig was nominated for a BAFTA in the Best Director category for the movie.

“The Kids Are All Right” follows a same-sex couple (Julianne Moore and Annette Bening) whose two children find their biological father (Mark Ruffalo). The women’s relationship is tested when the teens bond with their father. The movie was nominated for four Oscars, including for best actress and best supporting actor. Cholodenko was nominated for Best Director and for Best Writing, Original Screenplay.

“Winter’s Bone” follows Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence), who single-handedly raises her younger sister and brother, while searching for her drug-dealing father. The movie did not win any Oscars, but it was nominated for four. Debra Granik, who directed the film, was not nominated for Best Director but shared a nomination for best writing with Anne Rossellini.

“Zero Dark Thirty” chronicles the hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist group leader Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks through to his death at the hands of the Navy SEAL Team 6 in May 2011. Kathryn Bigelow, who is still the only woman to have won an Oscar for best directing (“The Hurt Locker”), was not nominated this time. The movie was nominated for five Oscars and won one — for Best Achievement in Sound Editing.

“Selma” tells the story of how, despite strong opposition, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo) and his followers prepare to and march from Selma to Montgomery. In addition to Best Picture, “Selma” was nominated in the best original song category, which it won. Ava DuVernay, who directed “Selma,” has only one Oscar nomination so far in her career — in the Best Documentary Feature category for “13th,” a look at the prison system and racial inequality in the U.S.

“Lady Bird” is a coming-of-age movie about a senior in high school in Sacramento, California, who has a difficult relationship with her strong-willed mother. Director Greta Gerwig was nominated for Best Director as well as Best Original Screenplay. “Lady Bird” was the first woman-directed movie since “The Hurt Locker” (2009) to score nominations in both the Best Picture and Best Director categories.

Two years after directing the critically-acclaimed “Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig directed another Best Picture nominee — the 2019 remake of “Little Women.” The movie tells the story of four young women determined to live life on their own terms. The movie was nominated for six Oscars, winning only in the costume design category. Gerwig was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay but not for directing.

“Nomadland” filmmaker Chloé Zhao, has made history as the first woman of color to be nominated for Best Director at the Oscars. “Nomadland” follows a woman who decides to travel across the American West, living out of a van, after she loses everything during the Great Recession of 2007-2009. In February 2021, Zhao made Golden Globes history by becoming the first woman of Asian descent and second woman ever (after Barbra Streisand) to win the best director award in the Golden Globes’ 78-year history.

“Promising Young Woman,” which is about a traumatized young woman who is on a mission of revenge, is the first and so far only feature film directed by Emerald Fennell (who plays Camilla Parker-Bowls in “The Crown”). In addition to Best Picture and Best Director, “Promising Young Woman” has been nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Carey Mulligan) as well as for Best Original Screenplay and film editing.