Acclaimed actress and Oscar winner Natalie Portman has launched a pointed critique against the Academy Awards, condemning the ongoing exclusion of female directors from the 2026 nominations. The 44-year-old star, while promoting her latest film The Gallerist at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, stated unequivocally that there remains "a lot of work to do" to achieve gender parity in Hollywood's most prestigious awards ceremony.
A Stark Imbalance in Recognition
In a revealing interview with Variety, Portman expressed her frustration at the persistent oversight. "So many of the best films I saw this year were made by women," she asserted. "You just see the barriers at every level because so many were not recognized at awards time." She specifically highlighted several critically acclaimed films directed by women that she believes have been unjustly overlooked, including Sorry Baby, Left-Handed Girl, Hedda, and The Testament of Ann Lee.
The Lone Representative in Best Picture
The statistics underscore Portman's argument. Despite Chloé Zhao's historical drama Hamnet securing eight nominations, including for Best Picture and Best Director, it stands as the solitary female-directed film among the ten contenders for the top prize. The Best Director category is dominated by male nominees: Josh Safdie for Marty Supreme, Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another, Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value, and Ryan Coogler for Sinners.
Portman elaborated on the compounded difficulties faced by women in the industry, noting that the challenges extend far beyond the nomination process itself. "Even when you pass the barriers of getting your financing, which is harder, getting into festivals, which is harder. Every step of the road is harder, and then you're out and it's great, and then it also doesn't get the attention," she explained. However, she concluded on a note of determined optimism: "We have a lot of work to do still. But joyfully, with a lot of joy, working with each other. It’s a very special process to be in community with women on set."
A History of Advocacy
This is not the first instance of Portman using her platform to champion female directors. Her advocacy has been both vocal and sartorial. At the 2020 Academy Awards, she made a powerful statement by wearing a black cape embroidered with the names of snubbed female directors, such as Greta Gerwig. Furthermore, in 2018, while presenting the Best Director award at the Golden Globes alongside Ron Howard, she pointedly announced, "And here are all the male nominees," directly calling attention to the category's lack of female representation.
A Scarce Honour for Women
The context of Portman's criticism is rooted in a stark historical reality. To date, only three women have ever won the Oscar for Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker in 2010, Chloé Zhao for Nomadland in 2021, and Jane Campion for The Power of the Dog in 2022. This glaring disparity highlights the systemic issues within the film industry's recognition systems that Portman is challenging.
Portman herself is an established figure within the Academy, having won the Best Actress Oscar for Black Swan in 2011 and received additional nominations for Closer and Jackie. This year, she is also nominated as a producer in the Best Animated Feature category for Arco.
Beyond the Awards: Broader Activism
Her appearance at Sundance also encompassed broader political activism. Portman, alongside fellow actress Olivia Wilde, was among numerous celebrities wearing 'ICE Out' pins to protest recent immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis. She described the current national climate as "quite devastating" and condemned the "brutality of ICE," while also acknowledging the "beautiful community" of support emerging among Americans. "It's a bittersweet moment to celebrate something we're so proud of on the backdrop of our nation in pain," she reflected.
Meanwhile, her new project, The Gallerist, a dark comedy thriller directed by Cathy Yan and co-starring Jenna Ortega and Catherine Zeta-Jones, continues her collaboration with female filmmakers. The film follows a gallery owner who devises a macabre scheme to sell a deceased man as artwork at Art Basel in Miami, showcasing the innovative storytelling emerging from women in cinema that Portman is so fervently supporting.
