<P> Based on Anita Shreve's novel of the same name, Bigelow's 2000 film The Weight of Water is a portrait of two women trapped in suffocating relationships . </P> <P> In 2002, she directed K - 19: The Widowmaker, starring Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson, about a group of men aboard the Soviet Union's first nuclear - powered submarine . The film fared poorly at the box office and was received with mixed reactions by critics . </P> <P> Bigelow next directed The Hurt Locker, which was first shown at the Venice Film Festival in September 2008, was the Closing Night selection for Maryland Film Festival in May 2009, and theatrically released in the US in June 2009 . It qualified for the 2010 Oscars as it did not premiere in an Oscar - qualifying run in Los Angeles until mid-2009 . Set in post-invasion Iraq, the film received "universal acclaim" (according to Metacritic) and a 97% "fresh" rating from the critics aggregated by Rotten Tomatoes . The film stars Jeremy Renner, Brian Geraghty and Anthony Mackie, with cameos by Guy Pearce, David Morse and Ralph Fiennes . She won the Directors Guild of America award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (becoming the first woman to win the award) and also received a Golden Globe nomination for her direction . In 2010, she won the award for Best Director and The Hurt Locker won Best Picture at the 63rd British Academy Film Awards . She became the first woman to receive an Academy Award for Best Director for The Hurt Locker . She was the fourth woman in history to be nominated for the honor, and only the second American woman . She defeated her ex-husband James Cameron in the category, for his directorial work in his sci - fi film Avatar, with a budget of $200 million . The Hurt Locker was far less expensive to make, relying on the use of hand - held cameras, long takes, and diligent sound design . </P> <P> In her acceptance speech for her Academy Award, Bigelow surprised many audience members when she didn't mention her status as the first woman to ever receive an Oscar for Best Director . In the past, Bigelow has refused to identify herself as a "woman filmmaker" or a "feminist filmmaker ." Throughout her career, she has been faced with harsh criticism for the violence in her films, facing questions such as Mark Salisbury's in The Guardian, "Why does she make the kind of movie she makes?", or Marcia Froelke Coburn for the Chicago Tribune's, "What's a nice woman like Bigelow doing making erotic, violent vampire movies?" </P>

When did the first woman win the best director oscar