Lina Wertmuller, the 91-year-old Italian director, is one of four artists to receive honorary Oscar this year from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Isabella Rossellini served as her translator while accepting honorary Oscar on Sunday night at the Academy’s Governors Awards in Hollywood.
“Lina would like to change the Oscar to a feminine name, she would like to call it ‘Anna.’”
Wertmüller was the first woman nominated for a directing Oscar for 1976’s “Seven Beauties.”
Since then, only four other female directors have been nominated in the category, and only one won, Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker.”
Jon Hamm walked Sophia Loren onto the stage to help introduce Wertmüller.
Also presenting was “Little Women” director Greta Gerwig, who said, “I learned the name Lina Wertmüller before I had seen her films.”