Academy backdown: Oscars to air in full
Following an outcry from many of the movie industry’s most prominent figures, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has reversed its decision to present four awards during commercial breaks of this year’s Oscar broadcast.
The film academy yesterday said all 24 categories would be shown live, after all, at the 91st Academy Awards on February 24.
On Tuesday, the academy had said the winning speeches for cinematography, film editing, make-up and hairstyling and live-action short would be aired in a shortened, taped segment during the broadcast.
“All Academy Awards will be presented without edits, in our traditional format,” the organisation said in a statement.
It did not address whether the change meant extending the show’s length, which the academy had said would be reduced to three hours.
Criticism of the move was fiercely contested by many nominees, including Roma director Alfonso Cuaron and BlacKkKlansman filmmaker Spike Lee.
The American Society of Cinematographers issued an openletter, signed by Martin Scorsese, Brad Pitt and others, calling the academy’s plans an insult to the cinematic arts.
“When the recognition of those responsible for the creation of outstanding cinema is being diminished by the very institution whose purpose it is to protect it, then we are no longer upholding the spirit of the academy’s promise to celebrate film as a collaborative art form,” the letter read.
The academy on Thursday defended the decision and blamed “a chain of misinformation” on the backlash.
This is just the latest flip-flop by the academy in its attempts to tweak the Oscars.