Everyone can probably agree at this point that Selma was well and truly screwed by the Oscars this year. It was widely regarded as one of the best films of the year, but it only walked away with nominations in Best Picture and Best Song. At this point, there's no way they're going to actually win Best Picture (unless they pull a Ben Affleck style apology tour, where they start winning everything to make up for the fact that they were left out in the cold for some of the bigger prizes), so they're pretty much just looking at Best Song. It's crushingly disappointing on so many levels that Ava DuVernay was ignored for Best Director. Not only was her direction legitimately deserving of an award, it would have been such an important moment for two groups of people who are traditionally underrepresented in the directing field, women and African-Americans. How amazing would it have been to have the first African-American female director win for a film about Martin Luther King Jr?
Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.
