Oscars 2019: Five female-directed films that were missed

The Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday, and there was a strong showing for films with women in lead roles.
Both of this year’s most-nominated films – Roma and The Favourite – have female leads.
But it was a different story in the best director category, where all the nominees were men.
“It was an anticipated takeaway from this year’s Oscar nominations announcement, but that doesn’t make it any less unfortunate,” wrote Kristopher Tapley in Variety.
The lack of women nominated for best director is “immensely disappointing”, Liz Tucker, chair of Women in Film and Television UK, tells BBC News.
“It just shows how much work we still have to do, and it’s heartbreaking really that some extraordinary work has been overlooked yet again by the Academy.”
In the 91-year history of the Academy Awards, only five women have ever been nominated for best director.
After this year’s nominations, some argued that female directors should be recognised – but only on merit, rather than for the sake of balance.
“Can we stop focusing on gender and focus on talent instead?” asked one female Twitter user on Tuesday after the Oscar nominations.
“To include a woman just to fill a female quota is sexist and an insult to all women. So what if there were only men nominated? Their movies were simply better; that’s it. Stop interpreting everything as sexist/racist.”
But Tucker argues: “It seems difficult to believe that, on merit, only five women have ever been in that best director category.
“We’re not asking for special favours here… One’s not disputing the [best picture nominees] are all great films, but are they the best films?
“My favourite film of the year was Can You Ever Forgive Me?, and I’m not saying that because it’s got a female director. I only discovered that after I watched it.”
So why do so few women get nominated in the best director category?
Five female directors who could have made the Oscars shortlist
1. Debra Granik (Leave No Trace)

2. Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

The 39-year-old Californian former actress made an eye-catching directorial debut in 2015 with coming-of-age drama The Diary of a Teenage Girl.
Can You Ever Forgive Me?, her second feature, has three nominations in all – one for adapted screenplay, in which Heller did not have a hand, and another two for stars Melissa McCarthy and Richard E Grant.
3. Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here)

Scottish film-maker Ramsay is up for a Bafta next month for You Were Never Really Here, a grim and violent thriller about another war veteran, played by Joaquin Phoenix, who tracks down missing girls.
She is also in line for a best director prize at the Independent Spirit Awards, where her competition includes another two women – Tamara Jenkins and the aforementioned Debra Granik.
4) Josie Rourke (Mary Queen of Scots)

5) Chloe Zhao (The Rider)

An outside bet for a best director nomination might have been 36-year-old Zhao, whose second feature The Rider has been quietly winning admirers since it made its debut at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.