On 27^th October 2019, Lina Wertmüller received the Honorary Award at the Governors Awards in Hollywood. In her acceptance speech, translated by Isabella Rossellini, the director half-jokingly asked the Academy to create an ‘Oscarina’ prize for female directors and to give the statuette a girl’s name, ‘Anna’. In reaction to this mocking and provocative joke, the women in the audience present for the ceremony applauded her as a sign of fellowship and respect.

Lina Wertmüller was the first woman to be nominated for Best Director in 1977 for the film Pasqualino Settebellezze (Seven Beauties). After her, in Italy it was only Cristina Comencini who received a nomination for Best Foreign Film for the 2005 film La bestia nel cuore (Don’t Tell).