Yahoo Lifestyle Diane von Furstenberg Hosts Oscar Nominees Lunch for Female Filmmakers
“I have this every year to promote women in film, but also what is nice about this event is to give light to the makeup artist, the costume designer, the producer, people who are not just the big, glamorous actress,” Diane von Furstenberg said on Wednesday, greeting guests at the door of her magnificent Beverly Hills home with burbling waterfalls and bougainvillea in the front yard.
“Did you see?” she said of her black-and-blue bruised face, the result of a fall on Tuesday. “It’s OK,” she laughed, “It’s a lesson in humility.”
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And resilience, which Von Furstenberg and her guests, many of them dressed in the designer’s joyful prints and wrap dresses, know a lot about.
“We had a lot of false starts but finally!” said Oscar-nominated costume designer Linda Muir of creating the sensual gothic looks for “Nosferatu,” which has helped the horror film reach global box office success. “The story has so many different versions and iterations…and who doesn’t love a vampire?”
Keri Selig and Diane Warren were mingling in the airy living room designed by interior designer François Catroux, whose aesthetic von Furstenberg praised in her intro to his book as “grand coziness.”
Selig was in a wrap dress and Warren was wearing a fabulous Charlie Brown print pantsuit she “bought years ago.” The producer and legendary Hollywood songwriter are both up for awards for “Six Triple Eight,” the film that tells the story of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only troop of Black women and women of color to serve in Europe during World War II. Warren is hoping the 16th time is a charm, and that this year will finally convert a nomination into a win.
First-time nominee Kim Snyder was looking forward to going to the Oscars. “I’ve been but always as a bridesmaid,” said the director of short documentary film “Death by Numbers.” “It’s tough but important. It’s a young woman [Sam Fuentes] who was shot in her classroom as a senior and her classmates died next to her in a school shooting. But the story in 33 minutes is about the trial of her shooter and her reclaiming her power and standing up to him,” said Snyder, who will be attending the Oscar ceremony with Fuentes. “She’s a writer on it, she’s not just the subject. It’s the first film about gun violence that’s been co-created by a gun violence survivor.…No matter where you are on the political spectrum, there is a whole generation of traumatized kids who are afraid, and that’s not political.”
The women in the room (and then the garden where a Jane Coxwell-curated lunch was served and Dove Cameron performed), have raised awareness about all kinds of issues with their films, whether it was writer-director Coralie Fargeat taking on Hollywood sexism with “The Substance,” or director Cindy Lee highlighting rhino poaching and conservation efforts in the Amakhala Game Reserve, South Africa during the pandemic.
Von Furstenberg, who has hosted the lunch since 2014, praised them all, reading aloud the name of every female Oscar nominee (they were also listed on a giant signboard at the entrance) before turning over the mic to her cohosts writer/director DuVernay Chairman of NBCUniversal Entertainment & Studios Donna Langley, and filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who happens to have produced the film “DVF: Woman in Charge.”
“I remember the first time I was invited to this, I was in awe of the property, I was in awe of the elegance and beauty of the surroundings but most of all that Diane von Furstenberg knew my name and put me on the list somehow,” said DuVernay, capturing the mood. “I learned when I came to this years ago you can do it, too, you can create these spaces, conjugate, find moments to bring in women and lead by example.”
Launch Gallery: Inside Diane von Furstenberg's Annual Oscar Nominee Luncheon
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