This awards season has been rough AF. Right after the Golden Globes kicked off the festivities, the devastating LA wildfires ravaged our city. The Critics Choice Awards were postponed. The live event of the SAG Awards nominations announcement was canceled. Even as we collectively declared that “the show must go on,” the reminder that our city recently went through the most difficult time in living memory has never quite gone away — nor has the lingering smell of burnt chemicals in the air or the heavy heart of knowing so many friends and neighbors and communities are still rebuilding. After strikes, scaled back productions, and the threat of AI, the cracks the movie industry has felt for years have only deepened. So yeah, it’s been a rough couple of months.
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What should feel exciting is this year’s Oscars race. I’ve covered awards season for the better part of a dozen years, and this year, there’s no frontrunner clear to run away with the golden prizes, no matter what the predictions say. Emilia Pérez leads with 13 nominations, followed by The Brutalist and Wicked with 10, but the controversy surrounding the film (and the questions it leaves open) has caused the shine of this year's race to tarnish a bit.
What did excite me though was attending the annual Oscars nominees celebration hosted by Women In Film, which has worked for the past 50+ years toward increasing gender representation in Hollywood through advocacy, career programs, and research efforts. Walking through the posh Wheelhouse West Hollywood, with its palm trees, patio lights, and “WIF” projected onto the pool, I laugh to myself knowing it doesn’t get any more LA than this. Standing along the pool edge, I share a look with Ariana Madix, both of us grateful to not have fallen in. When there’s a mad rush to capture pics of Cynthia Erivo embracing Jurnee Smollett, I marvel at their beauty then turn back to the arancini hors d'oeuvre I snagged.
Before you roll your eyes at the LAification of it all — and trust me, I would normally be right there with you — the actual programming begins with WIF CEO Kirsten Schaffer taking the stage and telling the crowd, “At WIF, we understand what women are capable of when given the opportunities and tools to harness their power. What’s more, we embrace the power of creating our own opportunities and bringing others with us.”
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Out of 220 individual nominees, 65 women have been nominated for an Oscar this year. That's down slightly from 2024, when there were 75 women nominees making up 32% of the nominee pool. After hours, weeks, months spent color-correcting a scene, laboring over the intricate hem of a costume design, or perfecting the key scene in an original screenplay, these women deserve to be recognized on their special day. Like Shiori Ito, the first Japanese woman director to be nominated in the documentary feature category, whose film Black Box Diaries isn’t even allowed to be shown in her home country. Or Emilia Pérez film editor Juliette Welfling, the only woman in her category this year. Yes, Emilia Pérez’s run toward the Oscars has been marred with controversy from the French director’s depiction of Mexico to star Karla Sofía Gascón’s resurfaced offensive tweets. But film editing is an often invisible line of work, and this year it’s unfortunately made even more invisible by the murmurs on whether Gascón will show up.
Like us in our own jobs, whether we booked the big gig, took the leap to start our own business, sent off the most perfectly diplomatic yet firm email, or just made it out of the house, we should celebrate the wins. Big and small.
The Oscars isn’t just about the best dressed or whether an A-list actor will finally get their due. It’s about all the hard work it takes when you put your heart and soul into your life’s passion, and for it to be finally recognized and honored. To see Erivo gracefully introduce herself to a crowd who undoubtedly knows her name and then quickly bring on stage Frances Hannon, her nominated makeup artist “who found my green and made me glow,” I’m reminded of the magic of the Oscars and why all the pomp matters.
It’s been exhausting navigating this awards season, and as I've longingly wondered when I’ll finally get a good night of sleep, I’ve been telling myself, “I just need to get through one more month. One more week. One more day.” But instead of withdrawing in my cave, I chose to dive fully into the pre-Oscars buzz. I went to the WIF event in full glam (SO to my HMU artist Sarah Choi!), got out of my daily uniform of a T-shirt and sweats, and put on a pair of heels because after the year that 2025 has already been, I deserve to have a night out in my city.
So tonight, celebrate the accomplishments of this year’s Oscars cohort, and every night, celebrate yourself for making it to the other side of whatever you’re dealing with. In the words of legendary songwriter and 16-time Oscar nominee Diane Warren, “You guys are all fucking winners.” And we are.
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