Bafta blasted for having no female directors on shortlist
BAFTA has been criticised over the absence of women making this year’s Best Director shortlist.
British filmmakers Christopher Nolan and Martin McDonagh were nominated yesterday for the coveted award for their movies Dunkirk and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Also shortlisted are Luca Guadagnino for Call Me By Your Name, Guillermo Del Toro for The Shape Of Water and Denis Villeneuve for Blade Runner 2049.
But Greta Gerwig, director of Lady Bird, was notably absent from the shortlist – despite the film receiving nominations for Original Screenplay, Leading Actress and Supporting Actress and winning two Golden Globes last week. Angelina Jolie also failed to make the cut for directing
‘Scale of inequality in film industry’
First They Killed My Father, nominated for the category of Film Not in the English Language. Other female directors left off include Lucy Cohen, who directed Kingdom of Us, and Rungano Nyoni for I Am Not A Witch – despite both having made it into the Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer category.
Of all the 2018 Bafta Film nominees in non- gender- specific categories, only around 20 per cent are women.
Kathryn Bigelow is the only woman in history to win the Best Director award – for The Hurt Locker in 2010. Bafta boss Amanda Berry told yesterday’s BBC Radio 4 Today programme: ‘Well, I have to admit there are no female directors in the director category, but there are five female directors nominated elsewhere’.
British actors fared much better in this year’s shortlist, with Gary Oldman, Daniel Day-Lewis and Jamie Bell all up for Leading Actor.
US fantasy film Shape of Water received the most nominations and could scoop 12 wins. Meanwhile only two Brits made the shortlist for Leading Actress, Sally Hawkins for The Shape of Water and Irish-American Saoirse Ronan for Lady Bird. They will face US stars Annette Bening and Frances McDormand as well as Australian star Margot Robbie.
Sophie Walker, Leader of the Women’s Equality Party, said: ‘It is deeply disappointing that no women have been nominated in the best director category – all the more so in a year when the scale of inequality in the film industry was exposed by the #metoo movement.’ And Kate Kinninmont, CEO of Women in Film and TV, said: ‘Of course there are far too few films directed by women. But this year there have been some terrific examples – from Wonder Woman, directed by Patty Jenkins, Lady Bird, written and directed by Greta Gerwig and Mudbound directed by Dee Rees.’