Selma director Ava DuVernay makes Golden Globes history

Selma filmmaker Ava DuVernay has made history by becoming the first black woman to land a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director. The nominees for the 2015 awards were announced earlier today, with the ceremony set to take place on January 11.

The annual awards gala honours the best in film and television and is widely regarded as an indicator of which films are on the way to Oscar glory. But despite being in its 72nd year, the Golden Globes has never nominated a black female as best director. The only two other black filmmakers to be nominated in the category have been men: Spike Lee for Do The Right Thing (1989) and Steve McQueen for last year's 12 Years A Slave.

As Indiewire points out, that is a staggering 24 year gap between Lee and McQueen – meaning that the Golden Globes didn't see fit to nominate any black directors for almost a quarter of a century. 

Selma follows Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo) on his historic 1965 march for black voter rights, in which thousands of activists marched from Selma, Alabama to the state capital of Montgomery to demand equal voting rights for African-Americans.

DuVernay is up against Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel), David Fincher (Gone Girl), Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman) and Richard Linklater (Boyhood). The film is also up for three other nominations: Best Motion Picture, Drama; Best Actor, Drama (David Oyelowo) and Best Original Song (John Legend and Common for “Glory”). 

This is not the first time DuVernay has broken barriers: in 2012, she became the first African-American woman to win the Sundance Award for Best Director for her feature film Middle Of Nowhere. Last year, she cast an all-black cast including Gabrielle Union and 12 Years A Slave's Alfre Woodard in her installment for the Miu Miu Women's Tales film series. 

Most recently, DuVernay led a call for people to boycott Black Friday in response to the decision of a St Louis County grand jury not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson for the killing of Michael Brown.

Watch the trailer for Selma and check out the rest of the film nominations below: 

Best Motion Picture, Drama
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything

Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical       
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Into the Woods
Pride
St. Vincent

Best Screenplay, Motion Picture
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
Alejandro González Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr., Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Graham Moore, The Imitation Game

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
David Oyelowo, Selma
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
Jennifer Aniston, Cake
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Bill Murray, St. Vincent
Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice
Christoph Waltz, Big Eyes

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
Amy Adams, Big Eyes
Emily Blunt, Into the Woods
Julianne Moore, Map to the Stars
Quvenzhané Wallis, Annie
Helen Mirren, Hundred Foot Journey

Best Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K, Simmons, Whiplash

Best Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

Best Original Song in Motion Picture
Lana Del Rey – “Big Eyes”, Big Eyes
John Legend and Common – “Glory”, Selma
Patti Smith and Lenny K – “Mercy Is”, Noah
Sia – “Opportunity”, Annie
Lorde – “Yellow Flicker Beat”, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I

Best Original Score in a Motion Picture
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything
Gone Girl
Birdman
Interstellar

Best Foreign film
Force Majeure (Sweden)
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (France)
Ida (Poland)
Leviathan (Russia)
Tangerines (Estonia)

Animated Feature Film
Big Hero 6
The Book of Life
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Lego Movie