Oscars to draw up diversity rules for nominees

Hollywood’s motion picture academy will introduce new eligibility rules to boost diversity among Oscars nominees under a raft of new measures announced Friday. The move comes after years of criticism over a lack of diversity among the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ members, and among the Oscar nominees and winners they select. “To ensure more diverse representation,” a new task force will be set up “to develop and implement new representation and inclusion standards for Oscars eligibility,” the organization said in a statement. The measures will not affect films in contention this year. The Academy did not give any details about the new rules, but said the changes are intended to “encourage equitable hiring practices and representation on and off screen.”

It will also host a series of panel discussions on diversity, including a talk hosted by Academy governor Whoopi Goldberg on “the lasting impact of racist tropes and harmful stereotypes in Hollywood films.”

The changes were announced following mass antiracism protests that have swept the country since the killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. Since 2015 and the #OscarsSoWhite campaign, the Academy has made concerted efforts to broaden its membership. The annual intake of new members reached 50 percent female for the first time in 2019, while nonwhite membership has doubled in five years. But less than one-third admitted were people of color. “To truly meet this moment, we must recognize how much more needs to be done, and we must listen, learn, embrace the challenge, and hold ourselves and our community accountable,” said Academy President David Rubin.

A woman looks at a mural showing the face of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after a white policeman knelt on his neck during an arrest in the US, painted on a section of Israel’s controversial separation barrier in the city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank on June 10, 2020, with text reading “I can’t breathe, I want justice not O2”.—AFP

—AFP In this file photo an Oscars statue is displayed on the red carpet area on the eve of the 92nd Oscars ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California.