The award season is well underway with the 2023 Academy Awards just around the corner. On Tuesday, the highly anticipated Oscar nominees were officially announced with industry favorites such as The Banshees of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All At Once receiving their rightful recognition. However, many films that were considered front runners in this year’s Oscar nominee predictions were iced out of nominations. The absence of women in the Best Director category spoke loudly, which features only men battling for the coveted honor this year. The organization Women in Film released a statement against The Academy for their lack of female representation in the category, highlighting an injustice still occurring in the male-dominated and controlled industry.
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From the five women-led films mentioned by Women in Film, only two received Oscar nominations in any category. Sarah Polley’s Women Talking received nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture — the only female director in the category. Charlotte Well’s Aftersun received only one nomination in the Best Actor category for Paul Mescal’s performance, which has garnered widespread critical acclaim. Both Viola Davis and Danielle Deadwyler — who portrayed an Oscar-worthy performance of Mamie Till — were deprived of nominations for their leading performances in The Woman King and Till respectively. The void of Black women within the Best Actress category is also distinctly apparent in this year’s Academy Awards. This is the second year in a row that a Black actress is missing in the esteemed category.
“Once again, Academy voters have shown that they don’t value women’s voices, shutting us out of the Best Director nominations. An Academy Award is more than a gold statue, it’s a career accelerator that can lead to continued work and increased compensation. That’s why WIF will continue to advocate for the work of talented women directors like Sarah Polley’s Women Talking, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King, Maria Schrader’s She Said, Chinonye Chukwu’s Till, and Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun, to be included.”
The Best Director nominees for the 95th Academy Awards are Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s (collectively known as the Daniels) Everything Everywhere All at Once, Todd Field’s Tár, Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin, and Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness. Throughout the history of the Oscars, women have only been nominated eight times in the Best Director category, only beating out their male counterparts three times. This year’s lack of women in the category speaks to a larger industry problem that still favors men.
Social Media Responds to the 2023 Oscar nominations
The anticipation for the awards season extends past filmmakers, actors, and other industry professionals looking to gain honors for their hard work. Audiences also have stakes in awards shows’ outcomes, becoming invested each year in their favorite films’ chance to win a prestigious accolade. Like clockwork, predictions for nominations sprout from industry experts, entertainment professionals, and die-hard movie stans yearly, offering an idea of who is expected to make the final sprint towards awards show gold.
The road leading up to the 2023 Oscars hasn’t been different, with films like Till, The Woman King, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Top Gunn, NOPE, and even Netflix’s Glass Onion sequel expecting to land nominations. Although some of the front-running predictions didn’t make the cut, many others were fortunate enough to make the list. In true communal fashion, film enthusiasts and industry members have taken to Twitter to express their sentiments on the 2023 Oscar Nominations list, igniting several trending hashtags.
Many Twitter users expressed frustrations with the nominees, especially in the Best Actress and Best Director categories. The Academy’s continued lack of representation throughout the years was also addressed on the platform.
Thankfully, the talk surrounding the Oscars hasn’t all been negative. Discussion has taken place surrounding many of the first-time actor Oscar nominees. Out of 20 slots, this year had a record-breaking 16 first-time acting nominees across the four categories.
