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Clayton Davis
Chief Awards Editor
byClaytonDavis See All
Across the history of the Academy Awards, hundreds of films have been nominated for the top prize, best picture. Only a small fraction of them were helmed by a woman director. The disparity is startling, even as female-led stories continue to gain ground.
Women filmmakers are taking the reins in Hollywood, with many stepping behind the camera to tell stories that reach global audiences. Recognition for that talent at the Oscars, though, has been slow to follow, especially in the best director category. In most years, only a handful of best picture nominees and sometimes none at all, are directed by women, even as the number of female producers behind nominated films has steadily climbed.
When breakthroughs come, they tend to arrive as firsts: the women who crack the directing race, the producers who make history by nationality or background and the rare repeat winners. Below, we track those milestones and the films that carried them.
Here is the complete, continually updated list of every woman-directed film nominated for the Oscars’ top prize, best picture.
See all Academy Award predictionsVariety Awards Circuit: Oscars
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Children of a Lesser God (1986)
Image Credit: ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection Randa Haines
Film: “Children of a Lesser God” (1986) Distributed by: Paramount Pictures Written by: Hesper Anderson, Mark Medoff (based on “Children of a Lesser God” by Mark Medoff Produced by: Burt Sugarman, Patrick J. Palmer Synopsis: A new speech teacher at a school for the deaf falls in love with the janitor, a deaf woman speechless by choice.
Other Oscar nominations: actor (William Hurt), actress (Marlee Matlin), supporting actress (Piper Laurie) and adapted screenplay
Wins: Marlee Matlin for best actress – first deaf person to win an acting Oscar, and youngest woman to win at 21.
The scene that proves it: “Never come inside my silence.”
The first film directed by a woman to be nominated for best picture came at the 59th ceremony, with debut director Randa Haines. However, she was not among the five nominated men in her respective lineup that included winner Oliver Stone (“Platoon”), David Lynch (“Blue Velvet”), James Ivory (“A Room with a View”), Roland Joffé (“The Mission”) and Woody Allen (“Hannah and Her Sisters”). The recognition came three years after Barbra Streisand came up short with “Yentl” (1983) after winning the Golden Globe for directing and best picture (comedy or musical).
“Children of a Lesser God” received multiple accolades including a DGA nom for Haines and the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. Haines has directed three other feature films following her historic recognition – “The Doctor” (1991), “Wrestling Ernest Hemingway” (1993) and “Dance with Me” (1998). Her last directorial credit is for television movie “The Ron Clark Story” (2006).
