Tag: Oscars

FOR only the second time in nearly two decades, the 20 Academy Awards acting nominations went to a group made up entirely of white actors and actresses.

Among the notable snubs was David Oyelowo, who received praise for his turn as the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma.

In 2011, the 20 nominees also were entirely white. Before that, one has to go back to 1998 for an all-white acting group.

The all-white nominees list comes at a time when Hollywood is fielding criticism for not doing enough to promote diversity in filmmaking. And just last month, Sony Pictures co-chairman, Amy Pascal and producer Scott Rudin, were apologising for leaked emails that appeared to be racially insensitive. Rudin was nominated for producing best picture nominee The Grand Budapest Hotel.

There are concerns over this trend, which many described as having the racism undertone. Gene Seymour, a film critic who has written about music, movies and culture for The New York Times, Newsday, Entertainment Weekly and The Washington Post, is among those who believe that the Selma Oscar snub is about race. He said, considering the difference between Oscar support for 12 Years a Slave and Selma. According to Seymour, while the former is about blacks as victims; the latter is about strong blacks as agents of their own salvation.

Nigerian-British lead actor of Selma, David Oyelowo, was on CNN, Thursday, alongside the director of the movie, Ava DuVernay, where they fielded questions from popular broadcaster, Christiane Amanpour.

“David not being included, because I know for a fact it’s one of the best performances of the year, I know what it took to get the performance to where it was and what he gave. It hurt my feelings, I’ll admit to you,” DuVernay told Amanpour.

She disclosed that she’s “reteaming with Oyelowo, to explore another part of American history,” in a new a film about Hurricane Katrina.

“You know, things just happen,” DuVernay said with a laugh, patting Oyelowo on the shoulder. “As an actor you’re just seeking a part that matches you, and as a director you’re seeking an actor that fits that part. These actors are exquisite, and David was the only choice for Dr. King,” DuVernay added.

Growing up in England, Oyelowo explained how he came to absorb the iconic role of the civil rights leader. “I knew who he was obviously, I knew his significance. But as you say, being British, he wasn’t part of my cultural upbringing. And I think actually that was a benefit to me,” Oyelowo told Amanpour.

“Also a benefit to me was the fact that it took a long time between me reading it for the first time, knowing that in my spirit that I was going to do this before I die, and it taking seven years before it actually came to fruition,” the actor added.

According to Al Sharpton, a guy who formed a Hollywood diversity committee in response to the leaked emails, reacted angrily to the nominees list, when he said, “The lack of diversity in today’s Oscar nominations is appalling. With all of the talent in Selma and other Black movies this year, it is hard to believe that we have less diversity in the nominations today than in recent history.” Sharpton added, “The movie industry is like the Rocky Mountains, the higher you get, the whiter it gets.”

The Oscar acting nominations are typically a reflection, in some part, of the best roles of the year available to actors and actresses, which makes 2015’s lineup troubling. The two writing categories also were dominated by white men. Not a single woman was nominated in either category.

Though the Academy doesn’t reveal a breakdown of its membership, a 2012 report by the Los Angeles Times found that of the nearly 6,000 members, 94 percent are white, 77 percent are male and 86 percent are age 50 or older.

Last year, actress Lupita Nyong’o took home the best supporting actress Oscar for the film 12 Years a Slave, which featured a mostly black cast and also won the best picture statuette. But this year’s Oscar nominees, including the best picture, has a decidedly racially homogenous feel, with the exception of Selma, which although was nominated for the top prize.

Twitter became a popular place to vent over the lack of diversity in the 2015 Oscar nominations. Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn was one of the first to weigh in on the nominees: “Apparently 93% of Academy voters are white, 76% of them are male, and 0% of them are made of Legos.” (The Lego Movie also was considered a snub when it didn’t make the cut for best animated film.)

When in February, a local Oscars selection committee was announced for Nigeria, many rolled out the drums for what they consider as an opportunity for Nollywood to compete at the level of the revered Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in Hollywood, but it appears Nigeria will have to wait a little more.

According to the Nigeria Oscars Selection Committee (NOSC), none of the entries submitted by Nigerian filmmakers meets the basic requirement for the awards.

Entries from Africa and other countries outside the United States are categorised under foreign language films, requiring that eligible movies, which must be feature-length, are predominantly non-English dialogue productions with accurate English subtitles.

Chairman of NOSC, Chineze Anyaene, disclosed that most of the entries received were “either in English, while some of those that were not in English were not properly subtitled and quite a number of them were lacking in some technical details.”

But according to Anyaene, what matters to the committee is the selection and submission of a work that best represents the country and not just to be counted among the countries with entries at the Oscars.

She said: “We don’t have to submit a film if we don’t have one worthy of an entry. That explains why we are not among the 83 countries. But it is not a bad situation. We are only a few months old as a committee of the academy and it means that we need to prepare against next year and subsequently. We are working on hosting a series of workshops in collaboration with the regulatory agencies and relevant guilds and associations as well as stakeholders so we can enlighten them on the expectation as far as this category is concerned. But I am optimistic we will have an entry next year.”

83 countries, including new entrants like Mauritania, Kosovo, Panama and Malta have reportedly submitted films for consideration in the 87th edition of the Oscars, scheduled to take place on February 22, 2015. It has been revealed that African countries like South Africa, Morocco and Ethiopia feature prominently on the list of the 83 countries that have submitted entries.

However, only five nominations will be announced by the academy on January 15, 2015. They will be announced along with contenders in the other categories. But this will be after a short list of nine foreign language semi-finalists will have been unveiled.

AHEAD of the 2015 Oscars, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has approved a 12-man committee of Nollywood stakeholders, the Nigerian Oscars Selection Committee (NOSC), thereby paving the way for Nigerian entries to be considered for the world’s most prestigious prizes for films.

Each year, countries with an approved selection committee may submit one film for consideration for the Foreign Language Film Award Oscar. Only five films are chosen from all international submissions for the Academy members to cast their votes and choose a winning foreign language film.

“This is a great opportunity for Nigeria to have a voice in the international film arena”, said Chineze Anyaene, a filmmaker and committee chairperson. The NOSC comprises 12 outstanding professionals who have, over time, proved their mettle in the movie industry. They will select one Nollywood movie each year to be submitted for the Oscars. These notable professionals include: Chineze Anyaene, Ngozi Okafor, Olumide Amure, Ramsey Nouah, Kene Mkparu, Emeka Mba, Chioma Ude, Akin Salami, Mildred Okwo, Biola Alabi, Charles Novia and Shaibu Husseini.

According to the Academy rules, the members will consider submissions on seven criteria, which are: story, direction, acting, cinematography, sound, music and universal theme.

“The Nollywood film industry needs to play globally, so people begin to look towards us,” said Hussein. Every Nollywood movie selected each year will compete with movies from 85 other countries for the coveted Best Foreign Language Film Award. Academy members will then pick a shortlist of five foreign language pictures ahead of the awards ceremony.

The approval of NOSC represents a milestone for the nation’s movie industry, which has been recognized as one of the top largest movie industries, globally.

For many years, stakeholders have been trying to further improve the Nollywood standards, so this new development is considered as a move in the right direction.