BEST DIRECTOR
No matter which nine or ten films will be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, there will be greater diversity and inclusion this year than ever before.
If you want to know more about the Oscars, please consult my book, All About Oscar: History and Politics of the Academy Awards (hardcover and paperback)
FRONTRUNNERS (in alphabetical order)
Alfonso Cuaron, Roma
Ryan Coogler, Black Panther
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Debra Granik, Leave No Trace
Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite
Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman
Rob Marshall, Mary Poppins Returns
STRONG CONTENDERS
Damien Chazelle, First Man
Peter Farrelly, Green Book
Marielle Heller, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk
Adam McKay, Vice
Steve McQueen, Widows
Pawel Pawlikowski, Cold War
ALSO IN THE RUN
Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade
Paul Schrader, First Reformed
John Krasinksi, A Quiet Place
Analysis
The five nominated filmmakers for the Best Directors Oscar may include not one but two African American: Ryan Coogler, Hollywood’s new darling, and the first black to direct a movie that grossed over $1 billion; and Spike Lee, vet dean of black-dominated cinema. If that happens, it would be first in 91 years!
There my also be a foreign-born director: Cuaron, hailing from Mexico with Netflix’s Spanish-speaking Roma, and Lanthimos from Greece, though the latter’s The Favorite is English-speaking.
And, with some luck, there may be a woman among the contenders.