'Till' Director Chinonye Chukwu Is Sick Of Hollywood 'Upholding Whiteness' Amid Oscar Snub

Till director Chinonye Chukwu is calling out the academy for their continued efforts to hold stories about people of color down.

The director and many others were hoping for an academy award nomination at the very least for her film Till which tells the story of Mamie Till-Mobley the mother of Emmett Till a young boy who was viciously murdered and had his body dragged through the streets by a gang of white men after a white woman claimed he whistled at her.

She was disappointed and shared her feelings with her followers on Instagram. “We live in a world and work in industries that are so aggressively committed to upholding whiteness and perpetuating an unabashed misogyny towards Black women,” she writes.

She continued, “And yet. I am forever in gratitude for the greatest lesson of my life - regardless of any challenges or obstacles, I will always have the power to cultivate my own joy, and it is this joy that will continue to be one of my greatest forms of resistance. ✊?”

She shared the message alongside a photo of herself and Myrlie Evers-Williams, a civil rights activist, at the film's Los Angeles premiere of Till in October 2022.

Not only was Chinonye Chukwu not nominated in the Best Director category, but the film was missed in all the possible categories. Lead actress Danielle Deadwyler was shut out of the Best Actress category.

The film didn’t receive any music noms, it was also shut out of the supporting actor categories and the Best Picture category. This is odd seeing as the movie has been getting recognized at other major award shows.

Deadwyler has been nominated for her performance at the upcoming Screen Actors Guild Awards and the 2023 BAFTA Awards. She received a Gotham late last year as well. If anything the Oscars could have at least nominated Deadwyler everyone seems to agree she gave a great performance.

The talk about black actors being pushed out has been happening since the nominations dropped. Fans were surprised to see that Viola Davis and her film The Woman King weren’t nominated for anything even though it scored noms from the Golden Globe and the SAG Awards.

Many also realized that despite many options, no women directors in the Best Director category. A giant step back from women winning two years in a row Jane Campion won in 2022 for The Power of the Dog, and Chloé Zhao was just the second woman ever to win the award in 2021 for Nomadland. The first was Kathryn Bigelow in 2010 for The Hurt Locker.

The director of Till gushed about the film in December 2022. "It is prioritizing a Black gaze. It is centering Black women," she told The Los Angeles Times. "It is also uplifting, showing love, joy, and community alongside the inherent pain of being a Black person in the world. I was very excited about presenting this story in that way."