Who directed the 2008 Iraq War film The Hurt Locker?

Kathryn Bigelow directed the 2008 Iraq War film The Hurt Locker.

The film follows an Explosive Ordnance Disposal team during the Iraq War. Jeremy Renner plays Sergeant First Class William James, a bomb technician whose appetite for danger places him at odds with the caution of his teammates, Sergeant J. T. Sanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge.

The screenplay was written by journalist and embedded war correspondent Mark Boal. Rather than adapting a single battle, it draws on experiences Boal observed while accompanying an American bomb squad in Iraq. The episodic structure emphasizes the repeated tension of approaching improvised explosive devices.

At the 82nd Academy Awards, The Hurt Locker won six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. Bigelow became the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director. The film’s success is sometimes described as a victory for war realism, though its characters and events are fictionalized.