As awards season rolls around once again, so does the unmistakable joy of watching our favourite actors get the recognition they deserve (Angela Bassett, we’re looking at you) and the inevitable disappointment of films you love slipping under the Academy’s radar. And 2023 is shaping up to be quite the year for snubs.

The earlier-announced Bafta nominations already caused controversy when Sarah Polley’s Women Talking received zero nods despite being highly regarded by critics. Eyebrows were further raised when only one female director – The Woman King’s Gina Prince-Bythewood – was nominated in the category.

But following the announcement of this year’s Oscar nominations, the discontent is only set to grow.

Among the most notable snubs were previous best actress winner Olivia Colman for her turn in Empire Of Light, the multi-talented Janelle Monáe and Taylor Swift for her original song, Carolina, from Where The Crawdads Sing.

Continuing the unfortunate trend of female directors seeing themselves excluded from the ‘boys’ club’, Aftersun’s Charlotte Wells, Sarah Polley, The Woman King’s Gina Prince-Bythewood and Till’s Chinonye Chukwu all went without an Academy nod.  

As Stylist’s entertainment director Helen Bownass puts it: “While it’s lovely to see an Oscar nomination list overflowing with never-before-nominated talent like Paul Mescal and actors who thought they were shut out the game of Hollywood (adore you, Ke Huy Quan and Brendan Fraser), I just cannot understand how The Woman King was overlooked.

“Gina Prince-Bythewood did a phenomenal job directing this truly compelling film – and why are we still having this very, very frustrating conversation about female directors? They still exist, guys! Where, too, was Charlotte Wells’ nod for the heart-rending Aftersun, please?

“Viola Davis is a true woman king, vibrating with power and she deserves to be pulling up a seat alongside Cate, Michelle (polish your mantelpiece Yeoh, that award needs to come home with you), Andrea, Michelle and Ana.

“It also reminded me how frustrating it still is that Davis also didn’t get nominated for Widows in 2019. Alongside Danielle Deadwyler’s omission for the devastating Till it points to a continuing lack of disrespect for the work of Black women that must be addressed.”

Images: Getty/Sony Pictures