Article by Marcus Siu

This year’s announcement for the 91st Annual Academy Awards nominations certainly has diversity written all over it.  Especially when compared to the “elitist” years of 2015-16, during the time when the controversial #OscarsSoWhite hashtag was used to protest the under representation of people of color in the nomination process when all twenty nominees in the acting categories were all white for the second year in a row.

After the immediate outcry, the 6000+ member Academy of Motion Pictures of Arts and Science (AMPAS) responded quickly and invited not only more black filmmakers, but international filmmakers, as well. That year, out of the 663 new members recruited, 46% were women and 41% were people of color.  That may have helped the nomination process the following two years, as, there were a total of eight black actors nominated for acting categories, with two black actors winning awards; Viola Davis for “Fences” and Mahershala Ali for “Moonlight” in 2017.

Conversation Between Two New York Filmmakers – Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee at a Special Screening of BlackkKlansman”. -Pictured: Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee -Photo by: Kristina Bumphrey/StarPix -Location: Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

Today, after a few years have passed since the #OscarSoWhite protest, it seemed appropriate, after 40 years of making unforgettable American films about American race relations in the black community, Spike Lee finally received recognition with his first ever “Best Director” nomination with “BlacKkKlansman”, which also received six nominations, including “Best Picture” and  Best Screenplay”, his second since “Do the Right Thing” thirty years ago, in which he shares writing credits.

Even though the Academy gave Lee an Honorary Oscar in 2015, he has always been highly critical and outspoken in the past about the Academy’s nomination process.  Being only the sixth black director to have been nominated for an Oscar, he will create history if he wins by being the very first black director to have ever won.

Despite not having a “Best Director” nomination, it was still encouraging to see Ryan Coogler’s film “Black Panther” getting seven nominations, which makes the people and the Kingdom of Wakanda especially proud, as it is the first time a comic book-based type movie was ever taken seriously.  It also received a Best Picture nomination. Not only has it reaped its rewards at the box by being the 9^th highest grossing movie of all time, but it also surprised everyone by recently taking the top prize at the SAG awards for Best Outstanding Cast Ensemble.

Yalitza Aparicio as Cleo in Roma, written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. Image by Alfonso Cuarón.
 Photo courtesy of Netflix.

As with the lack of representation of black filmmakers over the years, the same could be said about any other race or culture.  Just last year, the National Hispanic Media Coalition staged a pre-Oscars protest a few weeks ago to call attention to the dismal representation of Hispanic Americans in film.  It is safe to say that it certainly didn’t hurt them this year with “Roma”, sharing the lead with “The Favourite” with ten nominations”.

With 17% of the U.S. population being Hispanic, you can expect excitement within the Latino community surrounding the Oscars this year with “Roma” leading the pack. It also received four individual Oscar nominations for Alfonso Cuarón alone (as producer, director, writer and cinematographer), which has only been done twice before by a director; Warren Beatty for “Reds” and the Coen Brothers for “No Country for Old Men”.

Also, having two Mexican actresses nominated in the same year for the same film in a foreign language Best Actress nominee, Yalitza Aparicio, in her first-time role, along with a Best Supporting Actress nominee Marina De Tavira is a historic first.  It could be a big night for “Roma”, Cuarón, Mexico, and Netflix, who has officially become a Hollywood disrupter with its original content. Viva Mexico!

Tomasz Kot in Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Cold War”. Photo courtesy of Amazon.

Not only is Mexico well represented at this year’s Oscars, but so is Eastern Europe.  In addition to getting Best Foreign film nods for Roma”, Poland’s “Cold War” and Germany’s ‘“Never Look Back” have also each received a “Best Cinematography” nomination, and a rare “Best Director” nomination for Pawel Pawlikowski for “Cold War”.

Rachel Weisz and Olivia Colman in the film THE FAVOURITE. Photo by Atsushi Nishijima. © 2018 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

How can you say diversity exists unless you have some LGBTQ written into the scripts? Five of the nominated films for “Best Picture” certainly have them; most notably in “The Favourite” which takes lesbian royal perversity to new heights; especially with the final ending climax of the film. With the gorgeous Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone, how can a queen refuse this bizarre love triangle?

Other LGBTQ characters or themes in the other nominated films include Dr. Don Shirley, played by Mahershala Ali in “Green Book”, Queen’s Freddie Mercury played by Rami Malek in “Bohemian Rhapsody, Dick Cheney’s daughter, Mary, who comes out of the closet in “Vice,” and the son of a Baptist preacher is forced to participate in a church-supported gay conversion program after being forcibly outed to his parents in “A Star is Born”.

Rami Malek stars as Freddie Mercury in Twentieth Century Fox’s BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY. Photo Credit: Alex Bailey. TM & © 2018 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.

If we were still living in 1989, the year that “Driving Miss Daisy” won for “Best Picture” and “Do the Right Thing” only received an original screenplay nomination for Spike Lee, and some fortune teller told you that a small independent movie about a young, gay black man growing up in an impoverished Miami neighborhood would be a future “Best Picture” winner…would you believe him?

Times certainly have changed with the Oscars and “diversity” happens to be the new word.  We are officially now living in a global Academy.

(This is a revised but similar article that originally appears in CC Magazine – Feb 2019 issue)

Oscar Predictions:

Best Picture: “Roma”
Best Actor: Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Best Actress: Glenn Close, “The Wife”
Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali, “Green Book”
Best Supporting Actress: Regina King, “If Beale Street Could Talk”
Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, “Roma”
Best Adapted Screenplay: “BlacKkKlansman”
Best Original Screenplay: “The Favourite”
Best Cinematography: “Cold War”
Best Costume Design: “The Favourite”
Best Film Editing: “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: “Vice”
Best Music (Original Score): “BlacKkKlansman”,
Best Music (Original Song): “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born”
Best Production Design: “The Favourite”
Best Sound Editing: “First Man”
Best Sound Mixing: “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Best Visual Effects: “First Man”
Best Animated Feature Film: “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”
Best Foreign Language Film: “Roma”
Best Documentary (Feature): “Free Solo”
Best Documentary (Short Subject): ”Period. End of Sentence”
Best Short Film (Animated): “Bao”
Best Short Film (Live Action): “Skin”