So this one's for Tim who thoroughly beat me to the Oscar countdown. I was in a plane when the nominees were announced.
Here is a question I should know the answer to, but I bet Tim already does:
Has a woman or a minority director ever won the Best Director Oscar? And, I suppose, in related fashion, has a movie directed by a woman or a minority ever won Best Picture?
Great question. I am keeping my guess to myself, but I am excited to see Tim's response.
I think you'll find your answers at this link (you may have to scroll down):
http://www.filmsite.org/bestdirs1.html
Guess I can't ask any "best director" questions now!
When I read the question I immediately thought "that's easy: Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation." But then I looked it up and found that she won for writing the original screenplay. She was nominated both for directing and writing but the Oscar was for writing. So, I was close, but wrong…
Ang Lee won for Brokeback Mountain. I'm not so sure if he's properly a "minority" director- I guess he would be in the US, but he's Taiwanese (as far as I know he's not a US Citizen or even permanent resident, but I'm not at all sure) so whether he's properly thought of as a "minority" or not I'm not sure.
The pickings seem to be slim re women and minorities here. Why am I not surprised? But thanks for all who've commented.