Oscars Gender Gap: Female Directors in Best Picture Race Still Lag Far Behind Doc, International Categories

Women directed only 23% of the 344 films qualifying for Best Picture in 2019

Women directed 23% of the films eligible for the 2019 Best Picture Oscar, an increase from 18% last year. But the number of women represented in the main categories still lags behind those in the documentary feature and international categories — where female directors are much more highly represented.

Of the 344 films that qualified for the 92nd Academy Awards in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ list released on Tuesday, only 79 had at least one woman credited as a director or co-director. Last year, 61 of the 347 eligible films had a woman credited as a director. (By the way, that was the most films to qualify since 1970.)

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Brian Welk

Film Reporter • brian.welk@thewrap.com • Twitter: @brianwelk