To All The Young Women Watching The Oscars Tonight

by Paola Mendoza, co-Director of Entre Nos

Under normal circumstances, tonight I would have my annual Oscar party where my guests would fill out their ballots and put some money down on who can pick the most winners.  But since I am in London tonight sharing my film ENTRE NOS with the English, there will be no party. Instead I hope to be up at 3am to see cinematic history be made....Kathryn Bigelow will be the first woman director to win an Oscar...and all I want to say is...IT'S ABOUT TIME!

Kathryn deserves the Oscar because she made an extraordinary movie, The Hurt Locker, but she is not the first woman that could have and should have won an Oscar...there have been many before her and I can assure you there will be many many more after her. The wonderful thing about Kathryn's nomination is that the dialogue about women directors has been pushed to the forefront of public discourse.

Many people have been shocked to hear that a woman or African-American director has never won an Oscar and I hope tonight we never have to say that sentence again. I want  all the young women watching the Oscars tonight to aim high, to strive for greatness and for each girl to believe that they don't only have to be actresses to be on that stage but that they can be creators and leaders of our culture...because when I see Kathryn on that stage tonight that's what I will be reminded of.

-Paola Mendoza

**UPDATE** She won!