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Natalie Portman has criticized the Oscars for ignoring female directors in the 2026 nominations.
While attending the Sundance Film Festival in Utah on Saturday, January 24th to promote her new film The Gallerist, the actress spoke out about her frustrations with the lack of female representation in the Best Director category.
“Many of the best movies I saw this year were made by women,” Portman, 44, said in an interview with Variety. “We found that there were barriers at every level as too many people were not recognized during awards ceremonies.”
“Between ‘Sorry Baby’ and ‘The Left-Handed Girl,’ and ‘Hedda’ and ‘The Testament of Ang Lee,’… there’s been a lot of extraordinary movies this year that I think a lot of people enjoy and love, but they don’t get the praise they deserve,” she continued.
Chloe Zhao, who directed Hamnet, is the only woman nominated for this year’s Best Director award. This category also includes Josh Safdie in Marty Supreme, Paul Thomas Anderson in One Battle After Another, Joachim Trier in Sentimental Value, and Ryan Coogler in Sinners.
Kevin Mazur/Getty
Of the 10 films nominated for Best Picture, “Hamnet” is the only one directed by a woman.
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Portman went on to talk to Variety about the challenges of making movies today.
“Even if you get past the barrier of getting a loan, it’s harder, it’s harder to get to the festival, every step of the way is harder, and when you get out there it’s great and you don’t get the attention,” she said, adding, “We still have a lot of work to do.”
“But we’re so happy, so happy, so supportive of each other,” she adds with a laugh, “It’s a very special process to build community with women on set.”
Provided by Sundance Institute
For The Gallerist, Portman collaborated with female director Cathy Yan. Also starring Jenna Ortega, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sterling K. Brown, and Davin Joy Randolph, this darkly comedic thriller follows a desperate art gallery owner (Portman) who plots to sell dead people as art at Miami’s Art Basel.
Portman’s other project, the futuristic children’s film Arco, was nominated for the 2026 Oscar for Best Animated Feature after debuting at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. The actress plays the voice of the mother of the character Iris, who befriends the titular Arco.
Portman recently told PEOPLE that the film, which depicts the friendship between Iris and Arko, who meet when a time-travel trip goes awry, sparked “interesting conversations” with her two children, son Aleph, 14, and daughter Amalia, 8.
“It was incredible to be able to watch it with them,” she said. Portman explained that the film “sparked so many interesting conversations, from why the parents are holograms away from home, to, of course, the climate change issue that the kids are facing in the movie, and some of the solutions that the kids come up with, like, ‘Is it really possible in life to live on a platform on the ground to give the planet a break?'” These are some great conversations that I was able to have with my kids because of the movie. ”
