Best Director

Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Nominated for her work on the Iraq war film The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow is only the fourth woman to be nominated for a Best Director Oscar®. Bigelow was also at the helm for 1991's Point Break and 1995's Strange Days, but has earned household name status with her work on The Hurt Locker, which won her a Best Director Critics Choice Award®. The intense film follows three soldiers and bomb-disposal specialists and has been hailed as the first honest depiction of what it means to be a modern-day soldier fighting in the Middle East.