Italian writer-director Lina Wertmuller, the first woman ever to be nominated for best director at the U.S. Academy Awards, has died at the age of 93, the culture ministry said on Thursday. A filmmaker since the early 1960s, Wertmuller took world cinema by storm with her politically charged films of the 1970s, including "The Seduction of Mimi", "Love and Anarchy" and "Swept Away." Her Oscar nomination came in 1977 for "Seven Beauties". 

"Italy mourns the passing of Lina Wertmuller, a director who, with her class and unmistakable style, left an everlasting mark on our and the world's cinema," Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said in a statement. Wertmuller received a lifetime achievement award from the Oscars film academy in 2019 and took advantage of the occasion to call out Hollywood for tending to favour men.