Australian Directors Guild Award Nominations: Women Dominate Best Director Category

Women directors are poised to make a significant splash on the Australian Directors Guild Awards this yr. “For the primary time ever, women dominate the main feature film categories with five out of the seven directors nominated for best direction in a feature film (budget A$1 million or over) being women and 4 of the six nominees in the very best direction in a debut feature film category also being women,” Variety reports.

Helmers up for best direction in a feature film include Cate Shortland for Marvel blockbuster “Black Widow,” Sophie Hyde for sex comedy “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande,” and Leah Purcell for revisionist Western “The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson.”

Purcell can also be up for best direction in a debut feature film. Among the many titles up for honors in that category are Del Kathryn Barton’s “Blaze,” the story of a young girl who’s left catatonic with shock after witnessing a violent crime, and Philippa Bateman’s “Wash My Soul In The River’s Flow,” a documentary spotlighting First Nations singer-songwriters Ruby Hunter and Archie Roach.

The awards can be held December 8. Try all the nominees on the Australian Directors Guild’s website.