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LOS ANGELES – The Academy of Arts and Science of Cinema continues to expand its doors trying to end its days as an exclusive club primarily for white men.
The 91-year-old academy said Monday that it would increase the number of votes for the Oscars to about 9,300 people, a new record, by inviting 928 film industry professionals to become members. Last year, the academy sent invitations to 774 people. Just ten years ago, the organization limited invitations to 115 people a year, arguing that small classes kept the professional caliber of members high.
According to the Academy's count, about 49 percent of the people invited this year are women, including stars like Jada Pinkett Smith, Amy Schumer, Ann Dowd, Sarah Silverman, Christine Baranski, and Tiffany Haddish. About 30 percent are minorities, including filmmakers like Hong Sang-soo ("On the beach at night alone") and Nanfu Wang ("Hooligan Sparrow"). Dave Chappelle, J. Rowling, Audra McDonald and two nominees for Best Actor this year, Daniel Kaluuya and Timothée Chalamet were also invited.
Kobe Bryant, who received an Oscar in March for the animated short film "Dear Basketball." Oscars winners are automatically considered members. The 54-member board of the academy, which has the last word on new members, would have been open to criticism had it invited Mr. Bryant, accused of sexual assault in 2003, although that the case was finally abandoned.
If all invitations are accepted – some people have declined in the past, one being Woody Allen – women's membership will reach 31 percent, up from 28 percent, according to the academy. (Nine of the 17 branches of the academy have invited more women than men this year.) The percentage of members of the minority would rise to 16%, up from 13%.
The members of the academy were the subject of an in-depth review in 2016, when, for the second year in a row, the organization has appointed no minority actor for the Oscars and neglected black character-centered movies for the best images. Embarrassed by the resulting #OscarsSoWhite outrage, academy leaders promised to double the number of female and minority members by 2020.
The way in which the academy has expanded its ranks has overwhelmed some members. Bill Mechanic, a former executive of 20th Century Fox and Walt Disney Studios, resigned from the board of directors of the academy in April and wrote in his resignation letter: "We have established numerical responses to the problem of inclusion, hardly recognizing that it is the problem of the industry far, far more than that of the industry. ;academy.
By pushing for a more diverse composition, the academy has engaged film professionals from around the world – a necessity because the American film industry remains predominantly white and male. New guests come from 59 countries, the academy said.
About 41 percent of the 33 people invited to the filmmakers branch are women, which is not insignificant given the lack of opportunities for Hollywood filmmakers, where 85 percent of filmmakers are men, according to Annenberg University. Communication and journalism.
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