It remains to be seen if any female directors earn a nomination for Best Director at the Oscars in 2025. The Best Director Oscar has been a part of the annual Academy Awards ceremony since the event began in 1929, though in the first year it was presented as a pair of awards split between the “Comedy” and “Drama” categories. Although the Academy Awards present prizes in a wide – and growing – variety of categories, Best Director is considered one of the “Big Five” awards, a group that also includes the Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay Oscars.

Over the years, a number of notable filmmakers have won the award, including Steven Spielberg (Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan), Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby), Billy Wilder (The Lost Weekend, The Apartment), Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Life of Pi), and Frank Capra (You Can’t Take It With You, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, It Happened One Night). At the time of writing, the nominees for the 2025 Best Director Oscar are unknown. Because of delays amid the Los Angeles wildfires, deliberation was delayed by two days, with the official nominations now set to be announced on January 19, 2025.

The 2025 Oscars Frontrunners For Best Director Are All Male

They Have Already Won Awards In Other Ceremonies

So far, the frontrunners for the Best Director award in the 2025 Oscar nominations are all male. These frontrunners have been determined by nominations and wins at other awards. So far, the most prominent directors that have emerged throughout the season so far include The Brutalist‘s Brady Corbet (who won the Golden Globe), Anora’s Sean Baker (who has been nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award and a Golden Globe after the movie won the Palme d’Or at Cannes), Emilia Pérez‘s Jacques Audiard (also a Critics’ Choice and Golden Globe nominee), and Conclave‘s Edward Berger (also a nominee at both ceremonies).

There is a bevy of additional male directors in the running, as they have helmed movies that have performed well throughout this season. This includes James Mangold (A Complete Unknown), Denis Villeneuve (Dune: Part Two), Greg Kwedar (Sing Sing), RaMell Ross (Nickel Boys), Jon M. Chu (Wicked), and more. Chu in particular could be a strong contender because Wicked has raked in a variety of nominations, including 11 Critics’ Choice nods and four Golden Globe nominations (of which it won one). Because only five directors will end up being nominated, this leaves the 2025 Oscars with a particularly compeтιтive field.

The Oscars Have A Poor History Of Recognizing Female Directors

Very Few Women Have Even Been Nominated

Women may not have a strong chance of Best Director nominations in 2025, because the Oscars typically snub female directors. In the nearly 100 years of the ceremony’s existence, only three women – Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), Chloé Zhao (Nomadland), and Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog) – have won Best Director. Six additional nominations have gone to women, namely Lina Wertmüller (Seven Beauties), Jane Campion (The Piano), Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation), Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall), Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird), and Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman), bringing the overall total to just eight individual women.

There Are Several Female Directors Worthy Of 2025 Oscar Nominations

Some Of The Top 2024 Movies Were Directed By Women

While the Best Director field this year is largely dominated by men, quite a few women have helmed critically acclaimed movies that are performing well. This includes the remaining pair of Golden Globe nominees from the 2025 ceremony, The Substance‘s Coralie Fargeat and All We Imagine as Light‘s Payal Kapadia. The Outrun‘s Nora Fingscheidt and Babygirl‘s Halina Reijn could also be in consideration, considering their recent awards season performance. Other female directors with critically acclaimed 2024 movies who could be considered include Rose Glᴀss (Love Lies Bleeding), Marielle Heller (Nightbitch), and Zoë Kravitz (Blink Twice).

Thus, there could be at least one female nominee, and maybe two, at the 2025 Oscars. In fact, at the time of writing, the odds on GoldDerby have one female filmmaker in the Top 5 on their list of the most likely Best Director candidates (Coralie Fargeat at No. 5), an additional woman in their Top 10 (Payal Kapadia at No. 8), and one more in their Top 20 (In the Summers‘ Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio at No. 20). Between these standings and the slate of recent nominees in other ceremonies, men may not entirely dominate in 2025 after all.

Sources: GoldDerby