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\nNatalie Portman called out the Oscars for snubbing female directors in the 2026 nominations”You just see the barriers at every level,” she said while stepping out at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, Jan. 24Chlo\u00e9 Zhao, who directed Hamnet, is the only woman up for Best Director this year<\/p>\n
Natalie Portman<\/a> is calling out the Oscars for snubbing female directors in the 2026 nominations<\/a>.<\/p>\n While stepping out at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah to promote her new film The Gallerist on Saturday, Jan. 24, the actress shared her frustrations about the lack of female representation in the Best Director category.\n<\/p>\n \u201cSo many of the best films I saw this year were made by women,\u201d Portman, 44, said while speaking with Variety<\/a>. \u201cYou just see the barriers at every level because so many were not recognized at awards time.”\n<\/p>\n “Between Sorry Baby and Left-Handed Girl and Hedda and The Testament of Ann Lee\u2026 Extraordinary films this year that I think a lot of people are enjoying and loving, but are not getting the accolades that they deserve,” she continued.\n<\/p>\n Chlo\u00e9 Zhao<\/a>, who directed Hamnet<\/a>, is the only woman up for Best Director this year. The category also includes Josh Safdie for Marty Supreme, Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another, Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value and Ryan Coogler for Sinners.\n<\/p>\n Chlo\u00e9 Zhao at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards on Jan. 4.<\/p>\n Kevin Mazur\/Getty<\/p>\n Among the 10 nominated films in the Best Picture category, Hamnet is the only one directed by a woman.\n<\/p>\n Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.\n<\/p>\n Portman went on to speak to Variety about the challenges of getting a movie made today.\n<\/p>\n \u201cEven when you pass the barriers of getting your financing, which is harder, getting into festivals, which is harder. Every step of the road is harder, and then you\u2019re out and it\u2019s great, and then it also doesn\u2019t get the attention,\u201d she said, noting, \u201cWe have a lot of work to do still.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \u201cBut joyfully, with a lot of joy, working with each other,” she added with a laugh, “and it\u2019s a very special process to be in community with women on set.”<\/p>\n Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega in ‘The Gallerist’.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Sundance Institute\u00a0<\/p>\n For The Gallerist, Portman worked with a female director, Cathy Yan. The dark comedy thriller, which also stars Jenna Ortega<\/a>, Catherine Zeta-Jones<\/a>, Sterling K. Brown<\/a> and Da’Vine Joy Randolph<\/a>, follows a desperate gallery owner (Portman) who schemes to sell a dead man as art at Art Basel in Miami.\n<\/p>\n Another project of Portman’s, the futuristic kids’ movie\u00a0Arco, earned a 2026 Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature after debuting at the Cannes Film Festival last year. The actress voices the mother of a character named Iris, who befriends the titular Arco.\n<\/p>\n