Academy vows to double women, minority members by 2020

LOS ANGELES, United States - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Friday promised sweeping reforms designed to help diversify its membership in the face of a major controversy over the second straight year of all-white Oscar acting nominations.

The Academy's board said it was taking "historic action" to double the number of women and minority members by 2020 and launch a global effort to "recruit qualified new members who represent greater diversity."

"These new measures regarding governance and voting will have an immediate impact and begin the process of significantly changing our membership composition," said Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs.

The changes were approved in a unanimous vote by the Academy's board of governors on Thursday, following days of criticism that for a second year in a row, all 20 actors nominated for Oscars were white.

Acclaimed director Spike Lee, who won an Oscar last year honoring his lifetime achievements, wrote an open letter to the Academy decrying the "lily white" nominations.

Mega-star Will Smith -- one of the black actors seen as having been passed over for a nomination this year -- and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith followed Lee in announcing that they too would stay away from the ceremony on February 28.

On Friday, British actress Charlotte Rampling -- nominated for best actress for "45 Years" -- waded into the row by saying Lee had been "racist to whites" in his criticism.

"You can never know for sure, but maybe black actors did not deserve to be in the final selection," Rampling told Europe 1 radio, speaking in French.

The Academy announced that beginning later this year -- not affecting votes for the 2016 Oscars -- each new member's voting status will last 10 years, and be renewed if they have been active in movies during that time.

Members will get lifetime voting rights after three 10-year terms, or if they win or are nominated for an Academy Award. The same standards will apply retroactively to current members.

Those who do not qualify for active status will not be able to vote.

To increase diversity on the board of governors immediately, the Academy said it would establish three new governor seats that will be nominated by the president for three-year terms and confirmed by the board.

It will also involve new members on decisions about membership and governance, giving them a chance to become more active in decision-making and to help spot and nurture future leaders.

- 'Good step' -

The announcement was quickly welcomed by Ava DuVernay, director of civil rights movie "Selma," which was nominated for best picture last year -- but not for best director or actor.

"One good step in a long, complicated journey for people of color + women artists," she wrote on Twitter.

Tom O'Neil, founder of awards prediction site goldderby.com, told AFP it was a "dramatic first step" but urged caution on the numbers.

The Academy currently has 6,261 voting members, all of whom work in the film industry.

According to a 2012 study by the Los Angeles Times, nearly 94 percent of the Academy voters are white and 77 percent male. Twenty-three percent are women.

"If the academy is going to double that number, that's a huge leap up," said O'Neil. The Times study found blacks make up two percent of the Academy and Latinos less than two percent.

But O'Neil added: "Is it enough (to double up?) -- these numbers are so small."

In his open letter on Monday, Lee suggested that studios adopt a system akin to that used by the National Football League, which requires that minorities be interviewed when coach or executive positions open up.

Hollywood A-lister George Clooney, himself an Oscar winner, has said the problem is the lack of options available to minorities in quality films.

Smith, whose role in NFL drama "Concussion" was overlooked this year, announced Thursday that he would follow his wife in not attending the ceremony.

"There is a position that we hold in this community, and if we're not part of the solution, we're part of the problem," he told ABC's "Good Morning America" show.

"It was her call to action, for herself, and for me and for our family to be a part of the solution," added the two-time Oscar nominee for his roles in "Ali" and "The Pursuit of Happyness."

"There is a regressive slide towards separatism, towards racial and religious disharmony and that's not the Hollywood that I want to leave behind," he said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Fil-Aussie animator bares animated film's journey to Oscars

Filipino-Australian animator Robertino Zambrano's film, "Love In The Time Of March Madness," is a step closer to getting an Oscars, after it was shortlisted for 'Best Animated Short Film.'

But before getting the Oscars nomination, the process had been a roller coaster ride for Zambrano and his partner, documentarist Melissa Johnson.

Zambrano, a graduate of Design at the University of Technology in Sydney, had long been dreaming of making an animated film when a friend introduced him to Johnson, a former American college basketball player who makes documentaries.

Upon seeing Johnson's script on "Love in the Time of March Madness," Zambrano knew he had to work on the film.

"Love in the Time of March Madness" is a story of the awkward love misadventures of a 6’4 foot tall woman.

"As soon as I saw her script it clicked, I can already see awesome imagery that could go with her words and we dove in and decided to make it," Zambrano said on Mornings @ ANC Wednesday.

The Fil-Aussie animator said the film was supposedly just a six-month project for Internet uploading. But while spending a year working on the film, they realized it will be more worth the effort if the project gets into huge film festivals.

Zambrano and his team, however, realized the degree of their decision three years later when resources became scarce.

“Fast forward three years later, we were struggling to finish the film, there was no budget and we’re kinda on the verge of quitting and we decided to just cut together a rough edit which is one-third unfinished… and we just sent it out to the big festivals,” Zambrano said.

"By sending it out to the festivals is putting ourselves in the line to try and finish it," he added.

And that's when Tribeca Film Festival came knocking, accepting Zambrano's first film to the festival and granting the film the Tribeca Online Festival 'Best Online Short' of 2014.

"We were so stunned the first time Tribeca showed interest in accepting our film to their festival," Zambrano said.

Twenty more festivals later, the film is now ready for the famous Academy Awards. Zambrano believes the film's "honest, raw, and personal" attack make it stand out from other entries.

"It’s honest in its sense that this is just an interpretation, a depiction of these events, when something is drawn and sketch it feels more personal and raw. And I think that coupled with Melissa’s really strong story-telling style and her voice performance in the film, that’s just right level of honest, raw and really personal, I think that's what connects to people,” he said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com