A still image of the film Little Women. [Photo/Mtime]

Her Power

Two years into the Time's Up and #MeToo women's movements, women are still getting short shrift as directors, and minority women - and men - are getting overlooked in droves in the acting award categories.

There were a raft of female directors helming this this year's top films, such as Lulu Wang for "Farewell," Lorene Scafaria for "Hustlers," Greta Gerwig for "Little Women," Alma Har'el for "Honey Boy," Anna Boden, co-director for "Captain Marvel," and Jennifer Lee for "Frozen II."

Though they all met with both critically acclaim and success at the box office, All female directors were entirely shut out of the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes and the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs). Only LA Independent Spirit Awards distinguished itself for nominating two female directors this season, Har'el and Scafaria.

"It's really important that women get the recognition that they deserve for their work," Gerwig told Xinhua Saturday. "Their careers depend on it, just as men's do."

"Something needs to be done to change the system," director of "Honey Boy," Ha'el told Xinhua. "If old white men cannot acknowledge women directors, then we need our own category."

Minority women and men got a lot of fanfare in the press, but few-to-no nominations this year. In a throwback to #OscarSoWhite of previous years, only two persons of color were nominated for any of the top Oscar award categories, Cynthia Erivo for her top-billed performance in "Harriet" and Antonio Banderas for "Pain and Glory."

There was immense hue and cry from fans that Jennifer Lopez was overlooked for her stellar performance in "Hustlers."

Other prime performances by minority actors that were widely overlooked were: Zhao Shuzhen in "The Farewell," Alfre Woodard in "Clemency," Hong Chau in "Driveways," Lauren Lolo Spencer in "Give Me Liberty," Octavia Spencer in "Luce," Jonathan Majors in "The Last Black Man in San Francisco," and Eddie Murphy in "Dolemite Is My Name."