MOTION PICTURE ACADEMY CEO HUDSON TO STEP DOWN IN 2023

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscars, said on Monday chief executive officer Dawn Hudson would step down in 2023 after more than a decade at the helm.

Hudson joined the Academy as CEO in 2011 and was tasked with overseeing its 450-person staff in Los Angeles, New York and London and running the awards, membership and marketing.

Hudson was also responsible for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which opened in Los Angeles last month and displays movie memorabilia including a pair of red slippers from The Wizard Of Oz, the Rosebud sled from Citizen Kane and an R2-D2 model from Star Wars.

Under Hudson, the Academy, which has been criticised for honouring few movies and creators of colour, last year published detailed inclusion and diversity guidelines that filmmakers will have to meet in order for their work to be eligible for a best picture Oscar, starting in 2024.

The move came after criticism of the film academy intensified in 2016 with the social media hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, a backlash against two consecutive years of an all-white field of acting contenders.

Hudson has also led the Academy through the Covid-19 pandemic. The 93rd edition of the awards were held in April and marked a dramatic departure from televised Oscar presentations of the past, with no opening monologue, no live orchestra or any of the glitzy song-and-dance numbers that typically fill the show.