Lina Wertmüller, Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola, Kathryn Bigelow, Greta Gerwig, Chloé Zhao and Emerald Fennell. Seven women with one common trait that binds them all together in a unique way.
As a young woman looking to enter the film industry after graduation, I have been diving headfirst into everything film related. Through watching the best in the field, specifically the individuals who are currently in my dream career, through studying the work from the best directors, producers and screenwriters in the business, it is my hope that I will be able to pick up tips and tricks that will help me to be successful in my future career.
The main source of inspiration for me is through the 94th Academy Awards, or as more commonly known to the public, the Oscars. There has been an overarching concern that I have observed throughout my own personal research of the history behind the Oscars, and the nominations over the last 93 years. Out of all of the past individuals who have been nominated for Best Director, only seven in history have been women, and only two of those seven have won an Oscar. Kathryn Bieglow in 2010 for “The Hurt Locker” and Chloé Zhao in 2021 for “Nomadland.”
Only seven women have been nominated in the long, rich history of the Academy Awards for Best Director, with Jane Campion being one of the lucky ones, who has been nominated twice. As a young woman myself, this is concerning. How am I supposed to have the determination, the passion to be one of the nominations, to sit in the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles beside some of my biggest inspirations, when in reality, it would be a miracle for me to become one of them?
It is my hope, to one day be invited to attend the Oscars in person, to watch as the best of the best are recognized for their hard work. I know there is a small chance of me being one of the nominees, much less a winner, but I can hope. With the Cleveland-based film, “Nightmare Alley” being one of the nominations for the Oscars, there is still hope for me, for anyone from Ohio. If an Oscar-nominated film can be filmed and produced in Ohio, then why can’t the eighth woman to be nominated for an Oscar, be a native from Ohio, as well?
At the end of the day, hope and passion has never hurt anyone.