Will The Oscars Be Really Diverse In The Near Future?

Movies nominated for the Oscar category of best film will need to meet new minimum requirements for inclusion and racial diversity from 2024, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced.

While the standards will not be strictly enforced until 2024, submitting a confidential Academy Inclusion Standards form will be required from 2022. At the next awards edition, the standards will not be considered since the vast majority of film projects have already been rolled out.

From 2024, and depending on standards selection, films may need to show, for example, that at least one of its main actors is from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group, or that 30 percent of the secondary cast is from an underrepresented group (women, LGBTQ+, people with cognitive or physical disabilities, from a racial or ethnic group).

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New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi arrives for the 92nd annual Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California. EFE“We believe these inclusion standards will be a catalyst for long-lasting, essential change in our industry,” said Academy President David Rubin and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson in a joint statement.

The announcement comes amid racial justice rallies across the United States and after several years in which the Academy has received criticism for a lack of diversity among its awards nominees.

“The aperture must widen to reflect our diverse global population in both the creation of motion pictures and in the audiences who connect with them. The Academy is committed to playing a vital role in helping make this a reality,” Rubin and Hudson added.

The Academy has stipulated that the aspiring productions for best film must meet at least two out of four standards to be eligible for the award. These are: on-screen representation, themes and narratives; creative leadership and project team; industry access and opportunities; and audience development.

US director Ava DuVernay arrives for the 89th annual Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California. EFE

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For the on-screen representation, themes and narratives category, films will have to meet one of the following three criteria: That at least one of its main actors is from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group, that 30 percent of the secondary cast is from one of the aforementioned underrepresented groups, or that the main storyline is centered on one of these groups.

For the creative leadership and project team section, one of three criteria to include: at least two of the creative management positions must belong to an underrepresented group and at least one must belong to an underrepresented ethnic or racial group, 30 percent of the crew must be from underrepresented groups, or at least six crew/team and technical positions must be from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group.

For the industry access and opportunities category, the film’s distribution or financing company must provide paid apprenticeship and internship opportunities as well as training opportunities and skills development for members of the underrepresented groups.

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Likewise, the standards for audience development require that the studio or film company has multiple in-house senior executives on their marketing, publicity and/or distribution teams from the underrepresented groups.

The Academy defined underrepresented racial or ethnic group as: Asian, Hispanic/Latinx, Black/African American, Indigenous/Native American/Alaskan native, Middle Eastern/North African, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, or other underrepresented race or ethnicity. EFE-EPA