Not a single women was nominated for Best Director at the Golden Globes this year, despite a number of highly eligible, critically acclaimed films directed by women, including Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird, Patty Jenkin’s Wonder Woman, and Dee Rees’ Mudbound. It was a painfully conspicuous snub by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association considering the current moment, with women using the night to call out the rampant industry sexism that has long held them back.
But Natalie Portman, presenting the award for Best Director alongside some man, wasn’t about to let it go unacknowledged that not even one of the five nominees was a woman.
“Here are the all-male nominees,” she said pointedly, in a line that definitely wasn’t scripted, before reading out the names of some very sheepish-looking men.
The award went to Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water. Del Toro, who is Mexican, was the only nominee preventing the lineup from being “the all-white male nominees.”
As Barbra Streisand—who won the Golden Globe for Best Director in 1983—later pointed out, she was the last woman to take it home, 34 years ago. Only four other women have been nominated since—that’s one less woman than people named Robert.
