Oscars 2021 poll: Who should win Best Director?

On Sunday 25 April, the biggest ceremony of the film awards season will take place: the 2021 Academy Awards.

Best Director is a closely-run race every year, with Chloe Zhao the current favourite to take home the Oscar on the night.

But we want to know who you think will win…

Read more: Full list of Oscar nominees

Cast your vote below.

But first, lets take a look at this year's nominees...

Chloe Zhao, Nomadland

Zhao won the Director of the Year award for Nomadland at the Palm Springs International Film Awards — the first-ever female director to receive this honour in its 32-year history.

Nomadland tells the story of a widow who loses her job and moves from Nevada to join real-life nomads in Arizona.

Zhao has also won Best Director for the Critics’ Choice Awards, was the first woman of Asian descent and the second woman to ever win Best Director at the Golden Globes and the Directors’ Guild Awards, and was the first woman of colour to win in the same category at the BAFTAs.

Watch a trailer for Nomadland

According to industry experts Golden Derby, Zhao is currently favourite to win at 31/10 for the drama, which will premiere on Star on Disney+ in the UK and Ireland on 30 April, 2021 before coming to cinemas when they reopen from 17 May.

Peter Bradshaw has given it five stars in The Guardian, writing that “There is real greatness in Chloé Zhao’s film-making.”

Lee Isaac Chung, Minari

Minari tells the story of a family starting a farm in 1980s Arkansas in search of a new life after moving from California. It has also been nominated for Best Picture.

Chung was nominated for the BAFTAs, Critics’ Choice Awards, and Minari won Best Motion Picture at the Golden Globes.

The director draws on his own childhood experiences in the film, and Peter Debruge writes in Variety that “Chung transforms the specificity of his upbringing into something warm, tender and universal.”

Gold Derby currently gives Chung 4/1 to win, and Minari is available to watch on PVOD.

Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman

This much-talked about thriller stars Carey Mulligan as a woman seeking revenge after the death of her best friend, a victim of rape. It's Fennel’s feature directorial debut, and it was nominated for the Golden Globes.

Promising Young Woman has already won Original Screenplay and Outstanding British Film categories at the BAFTAs, and Fennel took home the Critics Choice Award for Original Screenplay Award and Writers' Guild Award as well.

Peter Bradshaw has given it five stars in The Guardian, describing it as a “well-worked screenplay” that he was “on the edge of [his] seat for”.

Gold Derby has her at 4/1 to win the Oscar for the thriller, available now on Sky Cinema and Now with a Sky Cinema membership.

David Fincher, Mank

In this 1930s Hollywood biographical drama, Mank tells the story of screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and director Orson Welles as they worked on the Citizen Kane script.

Fincher was nominated for a Golden Globe, losing out to Chloe Zhao. Mank has also won a BAFTA for Best Production Design and 12 nominations for the Critics’ Choice Awards.

Peter Bradshaw gives it five stars in The Guardian and writes that it is a “gorgeously shot film that both revels in Hollywood’s golden age and exposes its corruption.”

The Gold Derby has put his odds at 9/2 to take home the Oscar for the drama, which is available on Netflix.

Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round

The comedy drama tells the story of four teachers attempting to keep a constant level of alcohol in their blood, testing a theory that it would make them more creative and relaxed.

The film was nominated for the Golden Globes and BAFTAs, and Vinterberg accepted the award for Best European Director during the European Film Awards in December last year.

He has been described as having “delicate, grounded direction” according to Devika Girish in the New York Times.

His odds currently stand at 9/2 on Gold Derby, with Another Round to be released in the UK on 2 July, via Studiocanal.