Only four women have made it to the Best Director category at the Oscars so far – Linda Wertmüller for Seven Beauties in 1976, Jane Campion for The Piano in 1993, Sofia Coppola for Lost In Translation in 2003, and now, Kathryn. It was indeed a great day for Kathryn, as The Hurt Locker won six out of nine Oscars nominated for, thus becoming the lowest-grossing film ever to have won the top Hollywood honour.

Kathryn slammed her ex-husband James Cameron’s film Avatar, a declared box-office superhit, along with the eight other nominations in the Best Film category. In spite of having box office collections as low as $21 million, The Hurt Locker won Oscars for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Direction and Best Picture. James Cameron’s 3D sci-fi film Avatar could bag only three Oscars (Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography), in spite of grossing over $2 million at the box office.

'There's no other way to describe it, it's the moment of a lifetime,’ Kathryn said as she accepted the Oscar for Best Director. ‘I'd just like to dedicate this to the women and men in the military who risk their lives on a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world. And may they come home safe,’ she continued.

When asked about her feelings on being the first woman director to have won an Oscar, she said, ‘first of all, I hope I'm the first of many.  And, of course, I'd love to just think of myself as a filmmaker, and I long for the day when a modifier can be a moot point.  But I'm ever grateful if I can inspire some young, intrepid, tenacious male or female filmmaker and have them feel that the impossible is possible and never give up on your dream.’

Kathryn believes that James Cameron is ‘an extraordinary filmmaker’. In a backstage interview, Kathryn mentioned how she felt that it has been ‘a humbling experience’ for her to be in the company of all the ‘phenomenal, powerful, talented film-makers’ who had been nominated.

American film director Kathryn Bigelow is best known for her films Near Dark (1987) and Point Break (1991), apart from The Hurt Locker. She was also the first woman to win the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures for The Hurt Locker. The film had also won her a Golden Globe nomination, as well as awards for Best Director and Best Film at the 2010 British Academy Film Awards.

Hearty congratulations, Kathryn!

Picture Courtesy: Matt Petit / ©A.M.P.A.S.

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