The nominations are in for this year’s Oscars, but they’re reflective of an industry still stuck in its old ways. Some thoughts:
You either love or hate the awards season, but it’s hard to escape it. Awards of course don’t mean everything; they’re often indicative of a great marketing campaign and the production’s address book rather than actual quality.
Awards like the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs and the Oscars do however offer a reflection of the state of the entire industry. And today’s Oscar nominations didn’t paint a pleasant picture.
There are some excellent films nominated this year, such as Conclave, Sing Sing and Anora. We’re not here to criticise these films for getting nominated, but to highlight what they tell us about Hollywood itself. That being said, it seems I watched a different film called Emilia Pérez than the awards voters.
Jacques Audiard’s musical crime drama has proved to be a controversial one. Despite excessive awards success, many, including Mexican cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, have criticised the film for its “inauthentic” representation of Mexico and also the lack of Mexican talent involved in the film.
The film tells the story of a cartel boss (Karla Sofía Gascón) looking to complete her transition from male to female with the help of Zoe Saldaña’s lawyer. Both Saldaña and Gascón bagged nominations for their roles,Gascón became the first transwoman to be nominated for an Academy Award, which is an amazing milestone and something that felt so far away just a few years ago. Hopefully this opens the door for other trans performers to get not just more visibility, but also recognition.
Read more: Oscars 2025 | The nominations are in
Yet, the film still enforces harmful stereotypes about trans people. Audiard associates transness with lying, with Gascón’s Emilia unwilling to tell others about her transition and her lie ultimately leading to nothing but death and destruction. Emilia Pérez also suggests that gender is still something binary. You’re either a man or a woman; Emilia is almost unrecognisable as a woman, and while the intention here is to highlight that she has finally become her real self, it was only through physical transformation rather than always being Emilia.
GLAAD, a non-profit LGBTQ advocacy organization, has criticised the film heavily since it was released. GLAAD also holds its own awards, and Emilia Pérez was unceremoniously left without a single nomination. It’s another example of mostly cis, straight men trying to tell a transwoman’s story. With Donald Trump starting his term with an executive order harming trans and non-binary people in the US, Emilia Pérez’s performative progressiveness feels even more hollow.
Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance is the season’s unlikely success story. Fargeat’s body horror seems like an unusual Oscar contender, but Demi Moore is currently the frontrunner for Best Actress, especially after she won the Golden Globe for her performance as fading star Elizabeth Sparkle.
Yet 2025 is another year where only one woman broke through to the Best Director and Best Picture nominees. Last year’s Best Picture nominees featured three films made by women, but only Justine Triet managed to break through to the Best Director line-up for Anatomy Of A Fall, despite Great Gerwig delivering record-breaking box office numbers and positive reviews for Barbie.
This isn’t to say that the nominees for this year’s Best Picture or Best Director are bad or don’t deserve the recognition. It’s to say that the industry keeps rewarding only certain types of films made by certain types of people. To put it in blatant terms, it’s usually white, straight, able-bodied men who are worthy of the honour. There, I said it.
I hear someone at the back yelling, “But there were no good films made by women in 2024, Maria!” Sure there were. Maybe films like Blink Twice, I Saw The TV Glow, The First Omen or Babygirl never had much of a chance of being noticed by the awards bodies, but still, there’s a bigger issue here that goes beyond the Oscar nominations.
In March 2024, I wrote how 2024 looked dire for films made by women. Especially in light of the year we had in 2023, looking at 2024’s slate of films, it was depressing. The 2025 Oscar nominations only prove that it’s not that women don’t make good films, it’s that they’re seldom given the chance.
At the start of 2025, Variety published a report that stated only 16 percent of 2024’s 250 highest grossing films were directed by women.
I’ll let that sink in for a moment.
Sixteen percent is a ridiculously low figure, especially after the last few years have seen hits like Nomadland, Power Of The Dog and the aforementioned Barbie and Anatomy Of A Fall. For a brief window of time, women who adore films finally thought they could see themselves reflected not only on screens, but on the podiums, accepting awards.
This year’s nominations weren’t all bad, mind you. RaMell Ross’ Nickel Boys and Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here fought their way into the Best Picture lineup, and Cynthia Erivo has a great chance of netting EGOT status ā winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and a Tony ā if she wins Best Actress. In fact, the Best Actress line-up might be the most diverse of the categories; three actresses of colour, one of whom is trans.
Oh, and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is now an Oscar-nominated film. Like I said, it’s not all bad.
The Oscars will stream live on ITV on 2nd March.