The Academy Spotlights Shortlisted Documentary Feature Contenders for 92nd Oscars

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Announces “Oscars(R) Spotlight: Documentaries” National Theatrical Screening Dates Of 2019 Shortlisted Documentary Feature Contenders

Following the recent announcement of the shortlists in consideration for the 92nd Academy Awards®, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced details for its upcoming“Oscars® Spotlight: Documentaries” Screening Initiative leading up to the 92nd Oscars. The program, which debuted last year, highlights the Oscar® shortlisted Documentary Feature films by holding screenings at theaters across the country and offering moviegoers a chance to see these documentaries on the big screen. The films will screen theatrically in 20 cities nationwide starting December 25, 2019. Participating theaters include AMC Theatres®, Alamo Drafthouse, Harkins, IFC Center, Landmark Theatres, Laemmle Theatres and the Smithsonian.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

We are so happy to be able to bring the Academy’s Oscars Spotlight series back for another year,” said Rory Kennedy, Academy Documentary Branch Governor. “By working together with theaters across the country, we will bring greater visibility to these exceptional shortlisted films, reach new audiences and help further the Academy’s mission to support all forms of filmmaking.

The full list of participating theaters and corresponding locations are below. Please check local listings for show times. Theaters and show times are subject to change:

AtlantaLandmark’s Midtown Art Cinema
AustinAlamo Drafthouse Cinema Lakeline
BostonAMC Boston Common 19
ChicagoAMC River East 21
DenverAlamo Drafthouse Cinema Westminster
Los AngelesAlamo Drafthouse Cinema Downtown Los Angeles
AMC Burbank 16
AMC Sunset 5
Laemmle Monica Film Center
Laemmle Playhouse 7
MiamiAMC Aventura 24
MinneapolisLandmark’s Edina Cinema
New YorkAMC Empire 25
IFC Center
PhiladelphiaAMC Neshaminy 24
Landmark’s Ritz at the Bourse
PhoenixHarkins Valley Art
RaleighAlamo Drafthouse Cinema Raleigh
Salt Lake CitySalt Lake City Film Society’s Broadway Centre Cinemas
Santa BarbaraSBIFF Riviera Theatre
San FranciscoAMC Bay Street 16 – Emeryville
Landmark’s Opera Plaza Cinema
Seattle-TacomaAMC Pacific Place 11
St. LouisLandmark’s Tivoli Theatre
Tampa-St Pete (Sarasota)AMC Veterans Expressway 24
VirginiaAMC Tysons Corner Center 16
Washington, DCWarner Bros. Theater at the Smithsonian’s National
Museum of American History 

Nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards® will be announced on Monday, January 13, 2020.

The 92nd Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscars will also be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

92nd Oscars(R) Shortlists In Nine Award Categories Announced

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced shortlists in consideration for the 92nd Academy Awards® in nine categories: Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, International Feature Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, Music (Original Score), Music (Original Song), Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film and Visual Effects.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences logo

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Fifteen films will advance in the Documentary Feature category for the 92nd Academy Awards®. One hundred fifty-nine films were submitted in the category. Members of the Documentary Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees. The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

  • “Advocate”
  • “American Factory”
  • “The Apollo”
  • “Apollo 11”
  • “Aquarela”
  • “The Biggest Little Farm”
  • “The Cave”
  • “The Edge of Democracy”
  • “For Sama”
  • “The Great Hack”
  • “Honeyland”
  • “Knock Down the House”
  • “Maiden”
  • “Midnight Family”
  • “One Child Nation”
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32 Animated Features Submitted For 2019 Oscar® Race

Thirty-two features have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 92nd Academy Awards®. The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:

  • “Abominable”
  • “The Addams Family”
  • “The Angry Birds Movie 2”
  • “Another Day of Life”
  • “Away”
  • “Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles”
  • “Children of the Sea”
  • “Dilili in Paris”
  • “Frozen II”
  • “Funan”
  • “Genndy Tartakovsky’s ‘Primal’ – Tales of Savagery”
  • “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World”
  • “I Lost My Body”
  • “Klaus”
  • “The Last Fiction”
  • “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part”
  • “Marona’s Fantastic Tale”
  • “Missing Link”
  • “Ne Zha”
  • “Okko’s Inn”
  • “Pachamama”
  • “Promare”
  • “Rezo”
  • “The Secret Life of Pets 2”
  • “Spies in Disguise”
  • “The Swallows of Kabul”
  • “This Magnificent Cake!”
  • “The Tower”
  • “Toy Story 4”
  • “Upin & Ipin: The Lone Gibbon Kris”
  • “Weathering with You”
  • “White Snake”

Several of the films have not yet had their required Los Angeles seven-day qualifying run. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and comply with all of the category’s other qualifying rules before they can advance in the nominations voting process. To determine the five nominees, members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch are automatically eligible to vote in the category. Academy members outside of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch are invited to opt-in to participate and must meet a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category. Films submitted in the Animated Feature Film category also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture.

Nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards will be announced on Monday, January 13, 2020.

The 92nd Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a global community of more than 9,000 of the most accomplished artists, filmmakers and executives working in film. In addition to celebrating and recognizing excellence in filmmaking through the Oscars, the Academy supports a wide range of initiatives to promote the art and science of the movies, including public programming, educational outreach and the upcoming Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which is under construction in Los Angeles.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Announces Partnership With Istituto Luce – Cinecittà

Annual Series of Italian Film Screenings Will Begin with Centennial Tribute to Federico Fellini

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures today announced Istituto Luce – Cinecittà as a Founding Supporter with a five-year agreement in support of an annual series of Italian films and accompanying public programs. The museum will be the world’s premier institution dedicated to the art and science of movies and moviemaking. Over the course of the five-year agreement, the Academy Museum team will curate an annual series of Italian masterpiece film screenings and programs in consultation with Istituto Luce – Cinecittà. The first will be a centennial tribute to the legendary writer-director Federico Fellini (1920–1993), which will travel to major museums and film institutes in Europe, Asia, South America, and the United States.

(Four films directed by Federico Fellini won Academy Awards® for Best Foreign Language Film. He was nominated 12 times for directing and writing and, in 1992, received an Academy Honorary Award in recognition of his place as one of the screen’s master storytellers.)

Istituto Luce – Cinecittà is the state-owned company for the preservation, restoration, and promotion of Italian cinema worldwide, from a merger of Istituto Luce (founded 1924) and Cinecittà (founded 1937). Since July 2017, Istituto Luce – Cinecittà has taken back the legendary Cinecittà Studios and post-production labs, as well as Cinecittà Digital Factory, the Studios’ digital center: which is responsible for post-production to restoration. It also houses the renowned Archivio Luce, (part of the Unesco’s Memory of the World Register), one of the largest European documentary and photographic archive; it is responsible for the distribution of European films and documentaries, and the promotion of Italian cinema domestically and abroad.

The collaboration between Istituto Luce – Cinecittà and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences dates back to the 1990s. The two organizations have presented many great exhibitions and tributes together, honoring Federico Fellini, Roberto Rossellini, Dante Ferretti, and Sophia Loren to name but a few.

The partnership was announced today on the occasion of the first Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences member event in Italy, co-hosted by Istituto Luce – Cinecittà, with the support of Mastercard. At the reception and dinner to be held at Palazzo Barberni in Rome this evening, Academy CEO Dawn Hudson and Academy President David Rubin will welcome nearly 200 Academy members, filmmakers, artists, and dignitaries, and celebrate the great achievements of Italian cinema.

The Academy Museum will be the world’s premier institution dedicated to the art and science of movies. The Museum will be simultaneously immersive, experimental, educational, and entertaining. More than a museum, this dynamic film center will offer unparalleled experiences and insights into movies and moviemaking. Designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Renzo Piano, the Museum is restoring and revitalizing the historic Saban Building—formerly known as the May Company building (1939)—at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. The Saban Building will feature six floors, including exhibition spaces, the 288-seat Ted Mann Theater, an education studio, special event spaces, conservation areas, a café, and store. The new spherical addition will connect to the Saban Building via glass bridges and will feature the state-of-the-art 1,000-seat David Geffen Theater and the rooftop Dolby Family Terrace with sweeping views of the Hollywood Hills.

We are pleased to partner with Istituto Luce – Cinecittà to bring iconic Italian cinema to movie fans visiting the Academy Museum from around the world,” said Academy CEO Dawn Hudson. “Federico Fellini was my first love in international film—his work defines the art of cinema. And through the years, many more of Italy’s great films and directors will be featured.”

President and CEO of Istituto Luce – Cinecittà Roberto Cicutto said, “We are proud of our friendship with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which shares our deep commitment to preserving films and film heritage, and we are delighted to align ourselves with the Academy Museum. This new, Renzo Piano-designed, institution is certain to become one of the great international beacons for everyone who loves film. We look forward to launching the series in Los Angeles next year.”

Bernardo Rondeau, Head of Film Programming at the Academy Museum, said, “The Academy Museum is committed to celebrating the highest achievements in global cinema. We are excited to collaborate with Istituto Luce – Cinecittà for this five-year series of Italian cinema. We will provide an Academy experience to present each of the films in this series.

The Campaign for the Academy Museum is headed by chair Bob Iger and co-chairs Annette Bening and Tom Hanks. These industry leaders join other generous philanthropists who have named spaces, including Cheryl and Haim Saban (The Saban Building), The David Geffen Foundation (The David Geffen Theater), Dalian Wanda Group (The Wanda Gallery), Rolex (Rolex Gallery), Dolby Laboratories/Family of Ray Dolby (The Dolby Family Terrace), The Walt Disney Company (The Walt Disney Company Piazza), Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg (The Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Gallery), Steven Spielberg (The Spielberg Family Gallery), Shirley Temple Black and Family (Shirley Temple Education Studio), Cecilia DeMille Presley (Founders Room), Gale Anne Hurd (Hurd Gallery), NBCUniversal, Netflix (Netflix Terrace), Participant Media, Gerry Schwartz and Heather Reisman (Gerry Schwartz and Heather Reisman Mezzanine), The Simms/Mann Family Foundation (Ted Mann Theater), Jeff Skoll, The Fran and Ray Stark Foundation, Warner Bros. Entertainment (The Warner Bros. Entertainment Gallery), Wasserman Foundation (Wasserman Bridge), and Wolfgang Puck Catering and Events LLC/Compass Group USA, Inc. The Academy Museum’s Digital Engagement Platform is sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Women’s Initiative Events In New York And London Support Emerging Female Filmmakers

Academy Partners With E! Entertainment For New York Event With Laura Dern, Greta Gerwig, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy And Amy Pascal

Swarovski Returns As Global Partner Of “Action: The Academy Women’s Initiative”

Photo Credit: Lars Niki / Getty Images / AMPAS

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in partnership with E! Entertainment and Swarovski, hosted a luncheon in New York today (October 2), beginning the second year of its global initiative to support emerging female filmmakers with the presentation of an Academy Gold Fellowship for Women.

The luncheon at the Rainbow Room brought together women from all facets of the filmmaking community, including Annabelle Attanasio, Cynthia Erivo, Julie Hagerty, Alma Har’el, Laura Karpman, Barbara Kopple, Jodi Long, Jennifer Nettles, Katherine Oliver, Laura Poitras, Andrea Riseborough, Jane Rosenthal, Meg Ryan, Mary Stuart Masterson and Constance Wu. The afternoon featured an onstage conversation with writer-director Greta Gerwig and producer Amy Pascal, moderated by actress Laura Dern. Oscar®-winning documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, whose work highlights inequality and human rights abuses of women around the world, delivered the keynote presentation.

The Academy Gold Fellowship for Women, a $35,000 grant, was awarded to filmmaker Eliana Pipes. Pipes, an alumna of the inaugural class of the Academy Gold diversity internship enhancement program, is a graduate of Columbia University and has written her first feature film, a comedy entitled “Fauxricua.”

Constance Wu attends the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Women’s Initiative New York luncheon, in partnership with E! Entertainment and with the support of Swarovski on October 02, 2019 in New York City. Credit: Lars Niki / Getty Images / AMPAS

The Academy Gold Fellowship for Women is a one-year fellowship designed for female filmmakers or executives. The fellowship combines direct financial support with personalized mentorship and networking opportunities, creating a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an emerging female filmmaker or industry executive. The US recipient is selected from the alumnae of one of the Academy Foundation’s key educational initiatives: Academy Gold Talent Development and Inclusion program, Student Academy Awards and the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. The fellowship in the UK is awarded to an emerging female talent working on either their first or second feature film or short film.

(L-R) Dawn Hudson, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Greta Gerwig and Laura Dern attend the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Women’s Initiative New York luncheon, in partnership with E! Entertainment and with the support of Swarovski on October 02, 2019 in New York City.


The Academy will also hold a similar luncheon in London on October 4. The London event will mark the third year the Academy and Swarovski have hosted a gathering of female filmmakers in the UK. As a global multi-year partner of the initiative, Swarovski’s support extends across both the New York and London events, as well as a luncheon in Paris earlier this year, and makes possible the Gold Fellowship grants presented. Northern Ireland-based filmmaker Aislinn Clarke will receive the Academy Gold Fellowship for Women. Clarke wrote and directed her first feature, a horror film entitled “The Devil’s Doorway,” last year.

The fellowship program is a global effort, part of Action: The Academy Women’s Initiative, designed to create opportunities for female filmmakers and executives to connect, share their stories and celebrate inclusion. To date five fellowships have been awarded.

Cynthia Erivo attends the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Women’s Initiative New York luncheon, in partnership with E! Entertainment and with the support of Swarovski on October 02, 2019 in New York City.

Action: The Academy Women’s Initiative is intended to make Hollywood a more inclusive place by empowering women in the film community. The initiative includes the Academy Gold Fellowship for Women, Academy Directory, and global events designed to connect women across all corners of the filmmaking industry and enable them to share their stories and celebrate inclusion.


In just two years, the Academy Women’s Initiative has granted five fellowships to aspiring female filmmakers in NY, LA, London and Paris,” said Academy CEO Dawn Hudson. “With the support of our partners E! Entertainment and Swarovski, we will continue to expand this program globally, empowering more women in film, and creating a more inclusive industry.”

E! is proud to once again partner with the Academy for this powerful initiative that brings women together, celebrates inclusion, and supports female filmmakers,” said Jen Neal, General Manager, E! News, Live Events and Lifestyle Digital, NBCUniversal. “It is exciting to join so many creative, inspiring and courageous women at today’s event as we unite in our commitment to driving positive change.”

Swarovski has a long history of partnership with the Academy, having illuminated the Academy Awards® stage with more than 45 million crystals over the past twelve years. As part of Swarovski’s drive to promote women’s empowerment, it is proud to support the Academy in celebrating women in film and encouraging gender equality across the industry. Swarovski has played a supporting role in the entertainment industry for nearly 100 years, having collaborated with Hollywood’s finest costume and set designers, most recently for Rocketman and The Greatest Showman..


Nadja Swarovski commented: “Swarovski is delighted to partner with the Academy on the 2019 Gold Fellowship for Women as part its Action: The Academy Women’s Initiative. As a company we are committed to empowering women and to providing emerging creative talent with the support it needs to develop and thrive, so we are pleased to congratulate Eliana Pipes and Aislinn Clarke and we look forward to watching all the young Academy Gold Fellowship award winners share their work with the world.”

Swarovski creates a more sparkling world and delivers a diverse portfolio of unmatched quality, craftsmanship, and creativity. Founded in 1895 in Austria, the company designs, manufactures and sells the world’s highest quality crystal, genuine gemstones, Swarovski Created Diamonds and zirconia, finished products such as jewelry and accessories, as well as interior design and lighting solutions. The Swarovski Crystal Business is run by the fifth generation of family members and has a global reach with approximately 3,000 stores in around 170 countries, more than 29,000 employees, and revenue of about 2.7 billion euros in 2018.

E! is the only global, multi-platform brand for all things pop culture. The network is currently available to 91 million cable and satellite subscribers in the U.S and 161 countries globally. E! programming includes popular series “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” “Very Cavallari,” “Total Divas,” “Total Bellas,” “Botched,” and “Dating #NoFilter;” topical series “Nightly Pop,” and the return of the “E! True Hollywood Story.” “E! News” airs nightly on the network and is the leading multi-platform publisher delivering breaking entertainment news and pop culture coverage 24/7 across EOnline.com and all digital and social media. The brand’s robust digital programming slate includes “E! News’ The Rundown,” “Face Forward” and “What The Fashion” on Snapchat. E!’s “Live from the Red Carpet” signature events keep fans connected to their favorite stars on pop culture’s biggest nights and E! is also home to the “E! People’s Choice Awards,” the only award show for the people, by the people. E! is a network of NBCUniversal Entertainment & Lifestyle Group, a division of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news and information to a global audience. For more corporate information, visit www.nbcuniversal.com.

The Academy Announces Foundation Gift From Walmart

unnamedThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today a $250,000 gift from Walmart to the Academy Foundation in support of the organization’s educational and outreach initiatives. Walmart, a Proud Sponsor of the 89th Oscars®, continues its commitment to encourage and support emerging talent in the film community.

Walmart’s gift will allow the Academy to meaningfully advance its ongoing efforts to reach out and build a more diverse and inclusive talent pool of participants in all Academy programs, and begin to position promising young people for success in their respective fields.

The Academy Foundation manages two of the most prestigious competitions for emerging talent in the motion picture industry—the Student Academy Awards, an international film competition for university students, and the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, an international writing competition for aspiring screenwriters. Past Student Academy Award winners include acclaimed filmmakers Pete Docter (“Inside Out“), Cary Fukunaga (“Beasts of No Nation“), John Lasseter (“Toy Story“), Spike Lee (“Do the Right Thing“), Trey Parker (“South Park“) and Robert Zemeckis (“Forrest Gump“).

Altogether, Student Academy Award winners have gone on to receive eight Oscars and 51 Oscar® nominations. Past Nicholl Fellows include Destin Cretton (“Short Term 12“), Jeffrey Eugenides (“The Virgin Suicides“), Susannah Grant (“Erin Brockovich“), Ehren Kruger (“Transformers: Age of Extinction“) and Andrew Marlowe (“Air Force One“).

This summer, the Academy will also launch a groundbreaking entertainment industry-wide summer intern and mentoring program that will expand opportunities for young professionals from under-represented communities.

We would like to thank Walmart for this generous gift, and are grateful for their support of our educational initiatives and shared commitment to mentor the next generation of storytellers,” said Academy CEO, Dawn Hudson.

Our Oscars campaign celebrates creativity and storytelling, and we felt it was important to not only support filmmaking on the industry’s biggest night, but to lend support to future filmmakers,” said Tony Rogers, chief marketing officer, Walmart U.S. “Every day our customers are telling stories with their receipts. We are proud to support the Academy’s educational programs to further empower film students from diverse backgrounds to tell their stories.”

As a Proud Sponsor of the 89th Oscars®, Walmart will unveil its new campaign, “Behind Every Receipt, There’s a Great Story,” during the retailer’s first-ever sponsorship of the Oscars. The concept for the campaign is based on a single six-item receipt—when seen through an artistic lens—can tell an infinite number of stories. Walmart teamed with directors Antoine Fuqua, Marc Forster, and Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg to create three short films, each with their own unique spin, that will premiere during the telecast’s commercials on Oscars® Sunday, February 26, on the ABC Television Network.

Rolex Signs On As Sponsor Of The 89th Oscars®

For decades, Rolex has been linked to the magical and wondrous world of cinema: from its presence in legendary films to its support for young film-makers through its philanthropic program, the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.

Rolex will be a Proud Sponsor of the 89th Academy Awards® broadcast live on Oscars Sunday®, 26 February 2017 on the ABC Television Network. The Oscars® ceremony has honored excellence in cinema since 1929; and for the second consecutive year, Rolex will also be the Exclusive Sponsor of the Oscars Greenroom.

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Rolex Partners with the Academy Awards

The history of Rolex is intertwined with that of cinema. Rolex watches have spontaneously featured in many iconic films and have become part of storytelling as an essential element of a film’s plot. Each Rolex watch symbolizes a personality and carries its own story, bringing to life a character and their journey on screen. Rolex is maintaining its ties with exceptional individuals and organizations and, in the case of the art of film-making, the extraordinary accomplishments of those who are capable of challenging the world by pushing the boundaries of their art.

Rolex supports inspiring individuals and organizations who achieve great heights in both the sporting world and the arts, and the Academy exemplifies this pursuit of defying the odds to reach unimaginable goals. The Academy Awards and Rolex recognize and uphold excellence,” says Arnaud Boetsch, Rolex Director of Communication & Image.oscars2017_keyart_statue-1

Rolex Testimonee and Academy Award-winning director James Cameron represents the pinnacle of film-making, with a boldness of vision and focus on technical innovation dominant throughout his many movies. Titanic, which won 11 Oscars, is tied for the most awards ever, and Avatar holds the record as the highest-grossing film in history.

Cameron exemplifies the power of details in making stories come alive on screen. Says Cameron: “Great movies are made in details, and not just a few details – every detail. Every character, every prop, and every sequence. A Rolex is not only a beautiful watch and a masterpiece of engineering, it’s very tough. It’s a watch that you can take into any environment and which can stand up to the pressure. So, what you’re saying subliminally to the audience is: that character can take the pressure, too; he or she has what it takes.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, organizers of the Academy Awards, which promote excellence and great talent, offered Rolex the opportunity to host the Greenroom during the ceremony in February 2016 – literally “behind the scenes“. This space was designed by the Rolex Interior Design teams in Geneva, who brought to the Greenroom a combination of classic style and superlative quality that is the hallmark of both the Oscars and Rolex. The 2017 Greenroom will feature a new design and concept.

Furthermore, Rolex is a part of shaping future generations of film-makers and inspiring existing ones with the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, its philanthropic program, set up in 2002 to make a contribution to global culture. The program seeks out gifted young artists from all over the world and brings them together with artistic masters for a year of creative collaboration in a one-to-one mentoring relationship. The Initiative’s film mentors include Academy Award-winning directors Martin Scorsese, Alejandro González Iñárritu and 2016 mentor, Alfonso Cuarón.

Rolex is headquartered in Geneva and enjoys an unrivaled reputation for quality and expertise the world over. Its Oyster and Cellini watches, all certified as Superlative Chronometers for their precision, performance, and reliability, are symbols of excellence, elegance, and prestige. Founded by Hans Wilsdorf in 1905, the brand pioneered the development of the wristwatch and is at the origin of numerous major watchmaking innovations, such as the Oyster, the first waterproof wristwatch, launched in 1926, and the Perpetual rotor self-winding mechanism invented in 1931. Rolex has registered over 400 patents in the course of its history. A truly integrated and independent manufacturing company, Rolex designs, develops and produces all the essential components of its watches in-house, from the casting of the gold alloys to the machining, crafting, assembly and finishing of the movement, case, dial, and bracelet. Rolex is also actively involved in supporting the arts, sports, exploration, the spirit of enterprise, and the environment through a broad palette of sponsoring activities as well as philanthropic programs.

10 Contenders Remain In VFX Oscar® Race

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 10 films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 89th Academy Awards®.86thOscars_Logo

The films are listed below in alphabetical order:

  • Arrival”
  • The BFG”
  • Captain America: Civil War”
  • Deepwater Horizon”
  • Doctor Strange”
  • Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
  • The Jungle Book”
  • Kubo and the Two Strings”
  • Passengers”
  • Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”

The Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee determined the shortlist. All members of the Visual Effects Branch will now be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the shortlisted films on Saturday, January 7, 2017. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar® consideration.

Nominations for the 89th Oscars® will be announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2017. The 89th Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

145 Original Film Scores Eligible In 2016 Oscar® Race

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 145 scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2016 are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category for the 89th Academy Awards®.

A Reminder List of works submitted in the Original Score category will be made available with a nominations ballot to all members of the Music Branch, who shall vote in the order of their preference for not more than five achievements. The five achievements receiving the highest number of votes will become the nominations for final voting for the award.86thOscars_Logo

To be eligible, the original score must be a substantial body of music that serves as original dramatic underscoring, and must be written specifically for the motion picture by the submitting composer. Scores diluted by the use of preexisting music, diminished in impact by the predominant use of songs or any music not composed specifically for the film by the submitting composer, or assembled from the music of more than one composer shall not be eligible.

The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below, in alphabetical order by film title:

  • “The Abolitionists,” Tim Jones, composer
  • “Absolutely Fabulous The Movie,” Jake Monaco, composer
  • “The Accountant,” Mark Isham, composer
  • “Alice through the Looking Glass,” Danny Elfman, composer
  • “Allied,” Alan Silvestri, composer
  • “Almost Christmas,” John Paesano, composer
  • “American Pastoral,” Alexandre Desplat, composer
  • “The Angry Birds Movie,” Heitor Pereira, composer
  • “Anthropoid,” Robin Foster, composer
  • “Armenia, My Love,” Silvia Leonetti, composer
  • “Assassin’s Creed,” Jed Kurzel, composer
  • “Autumn Lights,” Hugi Gudmundsson and Hjörtur Ingvi Jóhannsson, composers
  • “The BFG,” John Williams, composer
  • “Believe,” Michael Reola, composer
  • “Ben-Hur,” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders, composers
  • “Bilal,” Atli Ӧrvarsson, composer
  • “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna, composers
  • “The Birth of a Nation,” Henry Jackman, composer
  • “Bleed for This,” Julia Holter, composer
  • “The Boss,” Christopher Lennertz, composer
  • “Bridget Jones’s Baby,” Craig Armstrong, composer
  • “The Bronze,” Andrew Feltenstein and John Nau, composers
  • “Captain America: Civil War,” Henry Jackman, composer
  • “The Charnel House,” Todd Haberman, composer
  • “The Choice,” Marcelo Zarvos, composer
  • “Collateral Beauty,” Theodore Shapiro, composer
  • “The Conjuring 2,” Joseph Bishara, composer
  • “Criminal,” Bryan Tyler and Keith Power, composers
  • “Deadpool,” Tom Holkenborg, composer
  • “Deepwater Horizon,” Steve Jablonsky, composer
  • “Denial,” Howard Shore, composer
  • “Doctor Strange,” Michael Giacchino, composer
  • “The Dressmaker,” David Hirschfelder, composer
  • “Eddie the Eagle,” Matthew Margeson, composer
  • “The Edge of Seventeen,” Atli Ӧrvarsson, composer
  • “Elle,” Anne Dudley, composer
  • “Eye in the Sky,” Paul Hepker and Mark Kilian, composers
  • “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” James Newton Howard, composer
  • “Fences,” Marcelo Zarvos, composer
  • “Finding Dory,” Thomas Newman, composer
  • “The First Monday in May,” Ian Hultquist and Sofia Hultquist, composers
  • “Florence Foster Jenkins,” Alexandre Desplat, composer
  • “Floyd Norman: An Animated Life,” Ryan Shore, composer
  • “The Founder,” Carter Burwell, composer
  • “Free State of Jones,” Nicholas Britell, composer
  • “Ghostbusters,” Theodore Shapiro, composer
  • “The Girl on the Train,” Danny Elfman, composer
  • “Gleason,” Dan Romer and Saul Simon MacWilliams, composers
  • “Gold,” Daniel Pemberton, composer
  • “Greater,” Stephen Raynor-Endelman, composer
  • “Hacksaw Ridge,” Rupert Gregson-Williams, composer
  • “Hail, Caesar!,” Carter Burwell, composer
  • “The Handmaiden,” Cho Young-wuk, composer
  • “Hands of Stone,” Angelo Milli, composer
  • “Hell or High Water,” Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, composers
  • “Hidden Figures,” Pharrell Williams and Benjamin Wallfisch, composers
  • “High-Rise,” Clint Mansell, composer
  • “How to Be Single,” Fil Eisler, composer
  • “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” Lukasz Buda and Samuel Scott, composers
  • “The Huntsman: Winter’s War,” James Newton Howard, composer
  • “Ice Age: Collision Course,” John Debney, composer
  • “Independence Day: Resurgence,” Thomas Wander and Harald Kloser, composers
  • “Indignation,” Jay Wadley, composer
  • “The Invitation,” Theodore Shapiro, composer
  • “Ithaca,” John Mellencamp, composer
  • “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back,” Henry Jackman, composer
  • “Jackie,” Mica Levi, composer
  • “Julieta,” Alberto Iglesias, composer
  • “The Jungle Book,” John Debney, composer
  • “Keeping Up with the Joneses,” Jake Monaco, composer
  • “Kicks,” Brian Reitzell, composer
  • “Krisha,” Brian McOmber, composer
  • “Kubo and the Two Strings,” Dario Marianelli, composer
  • “La La Land,” Justin Hurwitz, composer
  • “Land of Mine,” Sune Martin, composer
  • “Landfill Harmonic,” Michael A. Levine, composer
  • “The Legend of Ben Hall,” Ronnie Minder, composer
  • “The Legend of Tarzan,” Rupert Gregson-Williams, composer
  • “Life, Animated,” Dylan Stark and T. Griffin, composers
  • “The Light between Oceans,” Alexandre Desplat, composer
  • “Lights Out,” Benjamin Wallfisch, composer
  • “Lion,” Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka, composers
  • “The Little Prince,” Hans Zimmer and Richard Harvey, composers
  • “Live by Night,” Harry Gregson-Williams, composer
  • “Loving,” David Wingo, composer
  • “Maggie’s Plan,” Michael Rohatyn, composer
  • “Me before You,” Craig Armstrong, composer
  • “The Meddler,” Jonathan Sadoff, composer
  • “Midnight Special,” David Wingo, composer
  • “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates,” Jeff Cardoni, composer
  • “Miracles from Heaven,” Carlo Siliotto, composer
  • “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” Mike Higham and Matthew Margeson, composers
  • “Miss Sloane,” Max Richter, composer
  • “Mr. Church,” Mark Isham, composer
  • “Moana,” Mark Mancina, composer
  • “Money Monster,” Dominic Lewis, composer
  • “The Monkey King 2,” Christopher Young, composer
  • “A Monster Calls,” Fernando Velázquez, composer
  • “Moonlight,” Nicholas Britell, composer
  • “Morgan,” Max Richter, composer
  • “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2,” Christopher Lennertz, composer
  • “The Neon Demon,” Cliff Martinez, composer
  • “The Nice Guys,” John Ottman, composer
  • “No Letting Go,” Alain Mayrand, composer
  • “Nocturnal Animals,” Abel Korzeniowski, composer
  • “Now You See Me 2,” Brian Tyler, composer
  • “O.J.: Made in America,” Gary Lionelli, composer
  • “Off the Rails,” Steve Gernes and Duncan Thum, composers
  • “The Other Side of the Door,” Joseph Bishara, composer
  • “The Ottoman Lieutenant,” Geoff Zanelli, composer
  • “Ouija: Origin of Evil,” Taylor Stewart and John Andrew Grush, composers
  • “Our Kind of Traitor,” Marcelo Zarvos, composer
  • “Passengers,” Thomas Newman, composer
  • “Paterson,” Carter Logan and Jim Jarmusch, composers
  • “Patriots Day,” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, composers
  • “Pelé: Birth of a Legend,” A. R. Rahman, composer
  • “Pete’s Dragon,” Daniel Hart, composer
  • “Po,” Burt Bacharach, composer
  • “Queen of Katwe,” Alex Heffes, composer
  • “Race,” Rachel Portman, composer
  • “The Red Turtle,” Laurent Perez Del Mar, composer
  • “Ride Along 2,” Christopher Lennertz, composer
  • “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” Michael Giacchino, composer
  • “Sausage Party,” Alan Menken and Christopher Lennertz, composers
  • “The Secret Life of Pets,” Alexandre Desplat, composer
  • “Silicon Cowboys,” Ian Hultquist, composer
  • “Sing,” Joby Talbot, composer
  • “Snowtime!,” Eloi Painchaud and Jorane, composers
  • “Southside with You,” Stephen James Taylor, composer
  • “Star Trek Beyond,” Michael Giacchino, composer
  • “Storks,” Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna, composers
  • “Suicide Squad,” Steven Price, composer
  • “Sully,” Christian Jacob, composer
  • “Swiss Army Man,” Andy Hull and Robert McDowell, composers
  • “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows,” Steve Jablonsky, composer
  • “10 Cloverfield Lane,” Bear McCreary, composer
  • “10 Days in a Madhouse,” Jamie Hall, composer
  • “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,” Lorne Balfe, composer
  • “Trolls,” Christophe Beck, composer
  • “20th Century Women,” Roger Neill, composer
  • “Warcraft,” Ramin Djawadi, composer
  • “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot,” Nick Urata, composer
  • “X-Men: Apocalypse,” John Ottman, composer
  • “Zoolander 2,” Theodore Shapiro, composer
  • “Zootopia,” Michael Giacchino, composer

Nominations for the 89th Oscars® will be announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2017.

The 89th Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

91 Original Songs Vie For 2016 Oscar®

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 91 songs from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2016 are in contention for nominations in the Original Song category for the 89th Academy Awards®.

To be eligible, a song must consist of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the film. A clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition of both lyric and melody must be used in the body of the film or as the first music cue in the end credits.86thOscars_Logo

During the nominations process, all voting members of the Music Branch will receive a Reminder List of works submitted in the category and a compilation of the song clips. Members will be asked to watch the clips and then vote in the order of their preference for not more than five achievements in the category. The five achievements receiving the highest number of votes will become the nominations for final voting for the award. A maximum of two songs may be nominated from any one film. The original songs, along with the motion picture in which each song is featured, are listed below in alphabetical order by film title and song title:

  • “Just Like Fire” from “Alice through the Looking Glass”
  • “Rise” from “American Wrestler: The Wizard”
  • “Friends” from “The Angry Birds Movie”
  • “Flicker” from “Audrie & Daisy”
  • “Seconds” from “Autumn Lights”
  • “A Minute To Breathe” from “Before the Flood”
  • “Glory (Let There Be Peace)” from “Believe”
  • “Mother’s Theme” from “Believe”
  • “Somewhere” from “Believe”
  • “The Only Way Out” from “Ben-Hur”
  • “Still Falling For You” from “Bridget Jones’s Baby”
  • “F That” from “The Bronze”
  • “Torch Pt. 2” from “Citizen Soldier”
  • “Drift And Fall Again” from “Criminal”
  • “Take Me Down” from “Deepwater Horizon”
  • “Land Of All” from “Desierto”
  • “Sad But True (Dreamland Theme)” from “Dreamland”
  • “Angel By The Wings” from “The Eagle Huntress”
  • “Blind Pig” from “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
  • “One Frame At A Time” from “Floyd Norman: An Animated Life”
  • “I’m Crying” from “Free State of Jones”
  • “Gold” from “Gold”
  • “Champion” from “Hands of Stone”
  • “Dance Rascal, Dance” from “Hello, My Name Is Doris”
  • “I See A Victory” from “Hidden Figures”
  • “Runnin” from “Hidden Figures”
  • “Sixty Charisma Scented Blackbirds” from “How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate
  • Can’t Change”
  • “My Superstar” from “Ice Age: Collision Course”
  • “Seeing You Around” from “Ithaca”
  • “The Empty Chair” from “Jim: The James Foley Story”
  • “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from “La La Land”
  • “City Of Stars” from “La La Land”
  • “Start A Fire” from “La La Land”
  • “Cateura Vamos A Soñar (We Will Dream)” from “Landfill Harmonic”
  • “Better Love” from “The Legend of Tarzan”
  • “Never Give Up” from “Lion”
  • “Equation” from “The Little Prince”
  • “Turnaround” from “The Little Prince”
  • “Moonshine” from “Live By Night”
  • “Loving” from “Loving”
  • “Hurry Home” from “Max Rose”
  • “Gone 2015” from “Miles Ahead”
  • “Wish That You Were Here” from “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”
  • “I’m Still Here” from “Miss Sharon Jones!”
  • “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana”
  • “We Know The Way” from “Moana”
  • “Even More Mine” from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2”
  • “Waving Goodbye” from “The Neon Demon”
  • “I’m Back” from “Never Surrender”
  • “Find My Victory” from “Olympic Pride, American Prejudice”
  • “On Ghost Ridge” from “100 Years: One Woman’s Fight for Justice”
  • “Ordinary World” from “Ordinary World”
  • “Devil’s Girl” from “Outlaws and Angels”
  • “Levitate” from “Passengers”
  • “Ginga” from “Pelé: Birth of a Legend”
  • “Nobody Knows” from “Pete’s Dragon”
  • “Something Wild” from “Pete’s Dragon”
  • “Dancing With Your Shadow” from “Po”
  • “I’m So Humble” from “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping”
  • “Stay Here” from “Presenting Princess Shaw”
  • “Celebrate Life” from “Queen Mimi”
  • “Back To Life” from “Queen of Katwe”
  • “Let The Games Begin” from “Race”
  • “Think About It” from “The Red Pill”
  • “The Rules Don’t Apply” from “Rules Don’t Apply”
  • “The Great Beyond” from “Sausage Party”
  • “Faith” from “Sing”
  • “Set It All Free” from “Sing”
  • “Drive It Like You Stole It” from “Sing Street”
  • “Go Now” from “Sing Street”
  • “The Veil” from “Snowden”
  • “Hymn” from “Snowtime!”
  • “Kiss Me Goodnight” from “Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four”
  • “Holdin’ Out” from “Storks”
  • “Heathens” from “Suicide Squad”
  • “Flying Home” from “Sully”
  • “Montage” from “Swiss Army Man”
  • “Petit Metier” from “They Will Have to Kill Us First – Malian Music in Exile”
  • “Letter To The Free” from “13th”
  • “Down With Mary” from “Too Late”
  • “Can’t Stop The Feeling” from “Trolls”
  • “Get Back Up Again” from “Trolls”
  • “Smile” from “The Uncondemned”
  • “We Will Rise” from “Veeram-Macbeth”
  • “LA Venus” from “We Are X”
  • “New Dogs, Old Tricks” from “What Happened Last Night”
  • “Runnin’ Runnin'” from “What Happened Last Night”
  • “What’s Happening Today” from “What Happened Last Night”
  • “Who I Am” from “What Happened Last Night”
  • “The Ballad Of Wiener-Dog” from “Wiener-Dog”
  • “Try Everything” from “Zootopia”

Nominations for the 89th Oscars® will be announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2017.

The 89th Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

15 Documentary Features Advance In 2016 Oscar® Race

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 89th Academy Awards®. One hundred forty-five films were originally submitted in the category.i_am_not_your_negro

The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:

  • Cameraperson,” Big Mouth Productions
  • Command and Control,” American Experience Films/PBS
  • The Eagle Huntress,” Stacey Reiss Productions, Kissiki Films and 19340 Productions
  • Fire at Sea,” Stemal Entertainment
  • Gleason,” Dear Rivers Productions, Exhibit A and IMG Films
  • Hooligan Sparrow,” Little Horse Crossing the River
  • I Am Not Your Negro,” Velvet Film
  • The Ivory Game,” Terra Mater Film Studios and Vulcan Productions
  • Life, Animated,” Motto Pictures and A&E IndieFilms
  • O.J.: Made in America,” Laylow Films and ESPN Films
  • 13th,” Forward Movement
  • Tower,” Go-Valley
  • Weiner,” Edgeline Films
  • The Witness,” The Witnesses Film
  • Zero Days,” Jigsaw Productions

The Academy’s Documentary Branch determined the shortlist in a preliminary round of voting. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles.fuocoammare_ver2

Nominations for the 89th Oscars® will be announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2017.

The 89th Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

The Academy Announces 2016 Film Scholars Grant Recipients

Dr. Donna Kornhaber and Dr. Ellen Christine Scott have been named 2016 Academy Film Scholars by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Their respective book projects focus on female screenwriters in the early years of American cinema and the representation of slavery in Classical Hollywood films. The Academy’s Educational Grants Committee will award Kornhaber and Scott the scholars’ $25,000 grant awards on the basis of their proposals.

Established in 1999, The Academy Film Scholars Program is designed to support significant new works of film scholarship. The Academy’s cultural and educational wing – the Academy Foundation – annually grants $550,000 to film scholars, cultural organizations and film festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad. Through the Foundation, the Academy also presents a rich assortment of screenings and other public programs each year.

Both Kornhaber and Scott are brilliant scholars who will bring their expertise to these important but underserved topics,” said Academy Grants Committee Chair Buffy Shutt. “Their unique perspectives will help illuminate and support the Academy’s mission and we’re thrilled to be supporting them. We all look forward to seeing the fruits of their research once they have completed their projects.”

Kornhaber is an assistant professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin. Her project, Women’s Work: The Female Screenwriter and the Development of Early American Film, is the first book-length study of the diverse group of women writers who played an outsized role in shaping the American film industry during the silent era. The work’s fundamental objective is to restore to the historical narrative these women’s transformational creative contributions.

Scott is an assistant professor of cinema and media studies at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Her project, Cinema’s Peculiar Institution, is the first comprehensive film-centered study exploring the evolution of censorship systems and patterns of representability that shaped the image of slavery on screen. The work focuses on the Classical Hollywood period, a time of intensifying civil rights struggles, and emphasizes repression as much as it does representation.

Kornhaber and Scott join 13 Academy film scholars who are currently working on projects and 15 other scholars whose works have already been published.

Academy film scholars with projects in progress are Jane Gaines, Charles Musser, Emily Thompson, Stuart Liebman, John Belton, Anne Friedberg, Harlow Robinson, Cari Beauchamp, Patrick Keating, Dan Streible, Thomas Schatz, Laurence Kardish and James Naremore.

For grant guidelines and information about the Academy Film Scholars program, or visit www.oscars.org/filmscholars.

The Academy Focuses A “SPOTLIGHT On Screenwriting” In New York City

Screenwriting Series to Feature Films by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, An Evening with Walter Bernstein, and a Special Sneak Preview of “Ghostbusters”


The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present “Spotlight on Screenwriting,” a summer series illuminating the art of writing for motion pictures, beginning May 15 at various venues in New York City. The programs include onstage conversations and screenings of acclaimed films spanning nine decades.

Hollywood’s Happiest Couple: Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett
May 15 and 16 at Film Forum, 209 W. Houston Street
The series launches with a two-day celebration one of Hollywood’s most famous creative partnerships. 
Jim Moore, biographer and grandson of writer, producer and former Academy President Charles Brackett, will introduce three films co-written by the legendary team: “Ninotchka,” “The Lost Weekend” and “Sunset Blvd.,” all of which won or were nominated for multiple Oscars®.

Hollywood’s Darkest Moment: “The Front” Screening and Q&A
June 7 at the SVA Theater, 333 W. 23rd Street

A 40th anniversary screening of “The Front” will be followed by an onstage conversation with screenwriter Walter Bernstein, who received a 1976 Oscar® nomination for his original screenplay.  Bernstein, who was among dozens of screenwriters blacklisted during the 1940s and ’50s, will discuss his personal experiences and the lasting legacy of one of Hollywood’s darkest periods with Michael Barker, co-president and co-founder of Sony Pictures Classics.

Ghostbusters: A Sneak Preview
July TBA at the 
SVA Theater, 333 W. 23rd Street

The series will conclude in July with a preview screening of this year’s much-anticipated summer release “Ghostbusters.”  Screenwriter Katie Dippold will discuss the process of adapting the screenplay from the 1984 film of the same name.

For more information on “Spotlight on Screenwriting” and to purchase tickets, please visit the Academy’s event pages at www.oscars.org/events 

The Academy Adds Diverse Voices To Its Leadership

Three Members Added To Board Of Governors; Six Members Also Added To Board Committees

Following up on her January 21st announcement regarding the lack of diversity in the Academy membership, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs today appointed three new governors to join the Academy’s 51-seat Board of Governors. Reginald Hudlin (Directors Branch), Gregory Nava (Writers Branch) and Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Short Films and Feature Animation Branch) were confirmed by the current Board members for three-year terms, effective immediately.

I’m proud of the steps we have taken to increase diversity,” said Boone Isaacs. “However, we know there is more to do as we move forward to make this a more inclusive organization.”

The Board also appointed additional Academy members to each of the six Board committees that provide oversight to specific Academy areas.

  • Actor Gael García Bernal joins the Awards and Events Committee, chaired by First Vice President Jeffrey Kurland.
  • Cinematographer Amy Vincent joins the Preservation and History Committee, chaired by Vice President John Bailey.
  • Producer Effie Brown joins the Museum Committee, chaired by Vice President Kathleen Kennedy.
  • Executive Marcus Hu and Animator Floyd Norman join the Education and Outreach Committee, chaired by Vice President Bill Kroyer.
  • Executive Vanessa Morrison joins the Finance Committee, chaired by Treasurer Jim Gianopulos.
  • Producer Stephanie Allain joins the Membership and Administration Committee, chaired by Secretary Phil Robinson.

The Board also reaffirmed its January 21 resolution to make sure Academy voters are active in the motion picture industry. In the meeting, the Board decided that each branch executive committee will determine specific criteria for active voters based on the guidelines established in January. Active voters are defined as:

  • those who have worked in the motion picture industry in the last 10 years;
  • those who have worked anytime during three 10-year periods whether consecutive or not;
  • members who have won or been nominated for an Oscar®.

The branch executive committees will meet every two years—starting this spring—to review their members and determine any potential reclassifications. The committees also will adopt an appeals process for members who may lose their voting privileges.

Now the hard work begins….

11 Scientific And Technical Achievements To Be Honored With Academy Awards®

87th (1)The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 10 scientific and technical achievements represented by 33 individual award recipients will be honored at its annual Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation on Saturday, February 13, at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills. In addition, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) will receive a special award recognizing a century of fundamental contributions to the advancement of motion picture standards and technology.

Unlike other Academy Awards® to be presented this year, achievements receiving Scientific and Technical Awards need not have been developed and introduced during 2015. Rather, the achievements must demonstrate a proven record of contributing significant value to the process of making motion pictures.

The Academy Awards for scientific and technical achievements are:

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS (ACADEMY CERTIFICATES)

To Michael John Keesling for the design and development of Image Shaker, an optical system that convincingly creates the illusion of the camera shaking in a variable and repeatable manner. The Image Shaker was unique and superior to alternatives in use when it was invented two decades ago, and it continues to be used today.

To David McIntosh, Steve Marshall Smith, Mike Branham and Mike Kirilenko for the engineering and development of the Aircover Inflatables Airwall.

This system of modular inflatable panels can be erected on location, at lengths reaching hundreds of feet, with exceptional speed and safety. When used to support blue or green screens, the Airwall permits composite shots of unprecedented scale.

To Trevor Davies, Thomas Wan, Jon Scott Miller, Jared Smith and Matthew Robinson for the development of the Dolby Laboratories PRM Series Reference Color Monitors.

The PRM’s pioneering and innovative design allows the stable, accurate representation of images with the entire luminance range and color gamut used in contemporary theatrical feature presentation.

To Ronald Mallet and Christoph Bregler for the design and engineering of the Industrial Light & Magic Geometry Tracker, a novel, general-purpose tracker and solver.

Geometry Tracker facilitates convincing interaction of digital and live-action elements within a scene. Its precise results and tight integration with other ILM animation technologies solve a wider range of match-animation challenges than was previously possible.

To Jim Hourihan, Alan Trombla and Seth Rosenthal for the design and development of the Tweak Software RV system, a highly extensible media player system.

RV’s multi-platform toolset for review and playback, with comprehensive APIs, has allowed studios of all sizes to take advantage of a state-of-the-art workflow and has achieved widespread adoption in the motion picture industry.

To Richard Chuang and Rahul Thakkar for the groundbreaking design, and to Andrew Pilgrim, Stewart Birnam and Mark Kirk for the review workflows and advanced playback features, of the DreamWorks Animation Media Review System.

Over its nearly two decades of development, this pioneering system enabled desktop and digital theater review. It continues to provide artist-driven, integrated, consistent and highly scalable studio-wide playback and interactive reviews.

To Keith Goldfarb, Steve Linn, Brian Green and Raymond Chih for the development of the Rhythm & Hues Global DDR System.

This consistent, integrated, production database-backed review system enables a recordable workflow and an efficient, collaborative content review process across multiple sites and time zones.

To J Robert Ray, Cottalango Leon and Sam Richards for the design, engineering and continuous development of Sony Pictures Imageworks Itview.

With an extensive plugin API and comprehensive facility integration including editorial functions, Itview provides an intuitive and flexible creative review environment that can be deployed globally for highly efficient collaboration.

SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING AWARDS (ACADEMY PLAQUES)

To Brian McLean and Martin Meunier for pioneering the use of rapid prototyping for character animation in stop-motion film production.

LAIKA’s inventive use of rapid prototyping has enabled artistic leaps in character expressiveness, facial animation, motion blur and effects animation. Through highly specialized pipelines and techniques, 3D printing capabilities have been harnessed with color uniformity, mechanical repeatability, and the scale required to significantly enhance stop-motion animated feature films.

To Jack Greasley, Kiyoyuki Nakagaki, Duncan Hopkins and Carl Rand for the design and engineering of the MARI 3D texture painting system.

Combining powerful, multilayer painting tools and a unique texture-management system, MARI simplifies working with large, high-resolution texture sets. It has achieved broad adoption in the visual effects industry, often supplanting long-term in-house systems.

SPECIAL AWARD (PLAQUE)

To the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers

For one hundred years, the Society’s members have nurtured technology, provided essential standards, and offered the expertise, support, tools and infrastructure for the creation and post-production of motion pictures.

This year’s honorees represent a wide range of new tech, including a modular inflatable airwall system for composited visual effects, a ubiquitous 3D digital paint system and a 3D printing technique for animation,” said Richard Edlund, Academy Award®-winning visual effects artist and chair of the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee. “With their outstanding, innovative work, these technologists, engineers and inventors have further expanded filmmakers’ creative opportunities on the big screen.”

As always, portions of the Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation will be included in the Oscar® telecast.

The nominees for the 87th Annual Academy Awards will be announced Thursday (morning), January 14th. The Oscars® for outstanding film achievements of 2015 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® and televised, hosted by Chris Rock, live on the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

10 Contenders Remain In VFX Oscar® Race

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 10 films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 88th Academy Awards®.

The films are listed below in alphabetical order:

Ant-Man”

Avengers: Age of Ultron”

Ex Machina”

Jurassic World”

Mad Max: Fury Road”

The Martian”

The Revenant”

Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

Tomorrowland”

The Walk”

The Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee determined the shortlist. All members of the Visual Effects Branch will now be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the shortlisted films on Saturday, January 9, 2016. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.

The 88th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 14, 2016, at 5:30 a.m. PT at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

112 Film Scores In 2015 Eligible for Best Original Score Oscar® Race

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 112 scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2015 are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category for the 88th Academy Awards®.

To be eligible, the original score must be a substantial body of music that serves as original dramatic underscoring, and must be written specifically for the motion picture by the submitting composer. Scores diluted by the use of tracked themes or other preexisting music, diminished in impact by the predominant use of songs, or assembled from the music of more than one composer shall not be eligible.

The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below, in alphabetical order by film title:

“Adult Beginners,” Marcelo Zarvos, composer

“The Age of Adaline,” Rob Simonsen, composer

“Altered Minds,” Edmund Choi, composer

“Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip,” Mark Mothersbaugh, composer

“Anomalisa,” Carter Burwell, composer

“Ant-Man,” Christophe Beck, composer

“Beasts of No Nation,” Dan Romer, composer

“The Big Short,” Nicholas Britell, composer

“Black Mass,” Tom Holkenborg, composer

“Bridge of Spies,” Thomas Newman, composer

“Brooklyn,” Michael Brook, composer

“Burnt,” Rob Simonsen, composer

“By the Sea,” Gabriel Yared, composer

“Carol,” Carter Burwell, composer

“Cartel Land,” H. Scott Salinas and Jackson Greenberg, composers

“Chi-Raq,” Terence Blanchard, composer

“Cinderella,” Patrick Doyle, composer

“Coming Home,” Qigang Chen, composer

“Concussion,” James Newton Howard, composer

“Creed,” Ludwig Goransson, composer

“The Danish Girl,” Alexandre Desplat, composer

“The Divergent Series: Insurgent,” Joseph Trapanese, composer

“Dukhtar,” Peter Nashel, composer

“The End of the Tour,” Danny Elfman, composer

“Everest,” Dario Marianelli, composer

“Ex Machina,” Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow, composers

“Far from the Madding Crowd,” Craig Armstrong, composer

“Fifty Shades of Grey,” Danny Elfman, composer

“5 Flights Up,” David Newman, composer

“Frame by Frame,” Patrick Jonsson, composer

“Freedom,” James Lavino, composer

“Furious Seven,” Brian Tyler, composer

“The Good Dinosaur,” Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna, composers

“Goosebumps,” Danny Elfman, composer

“Grandma,” Joel P. West, composer

“The Hateful Eight,” Ennio Morricone, composer

“He Named Me Malala,” Thomas Newman, composer

“Hot Pursuit,” Christophe Beck, composer

“Hot Tub Time Machine 2,” Christophe Beck, composer

“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2,” James Newton Howard, composer

“The Hunting Ground,” Miriam Cutler, composer

“I Smile Back,” Zack Ryan, composer

“I’ll See You in My Dreams,” Keegan DeWitt, composer

“In the Heart of the Sea,” Roque Baños, composer

“Inside Out,” Michael Giacchino, composer

“The Intern,” Theodore Shapiro, composer

“It Follows,” Disasterpeace, composer

“Jalam,” Ouesppachan, composer

“Jurassic World,” Michael Giacchino, composer Continue reading

7 Features Advance In Race For Makeup And Hairstyling Oscar®, 305 Feature Films In Contention For 2015 Best Picture Oscar®

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that seven films remain in competition in the Makeup and Hairstyling Category for the 88th Academy Awards®.

The films are listed below in alphabetical order:

“Black Mass”

“Concussion”

“Legend”

“Mad Max: Fury Road”

“Mr. Holmes”

“The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared”

“The Revenant”

On Saturday, January 9, 2016, all members of the Academy’s Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration.

In other news, three hundred five feature films were eligible for the 2015 Academy Awards® Best Picture Award. To be eligible for 88th Academy Awards consideration, feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County by midnight, December 31, and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days.

Under Academy rules, a feature-length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes and must have been exhibited theatrically on 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format. Feature films that receive their first public exhibition or distribution in any manner other than as a theatrical motion picture release are not eligible for Academy Awards in any category. The “Reminder List of Productions Eligible for the 88th Academy Awards” is available at http://www.oscars.org/oscars/rules-eligibility.

The 88th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday morning, January 14, 2016, at 5:30 am. PT at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The 88th Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 7 pm. ET/4 pm. PT.

74 ORIGINAL SONGS VIE FOR 2015 OSCAR®

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 74 songs from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2015 are in contention for nominations in the Original Song category for the 88th Academy Awards®.

During the nominations process, all voting members of the Music Branch will receive a Reminder List of works submitted in the category and a DVD copy of the song clips. Members will be asked to watch the clips and then vote in the order of their preference for not more than five achievements in the category. The five achievements receiving the highest number of votes will become the nominations for final voting for the award. A maximum of two songs may be nominated from any one film.

To be eligible, a song must consist of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the film. A clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition of both lyric and melody must be used in the body of the film or as the first music cue in the end credits. The original songs, along with the motion picture in which each song is featured, are listed below in alphabetical order by film title and song title:

“Happy” from “Altered Minds”

“Home” from “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip”

“None Of Them Are You” from “Anomalisa”

“Stem To The Rose” from “Becoming Bulletproof”

“The Mystery Of Your Gift” from “Boychoir”

“I Run” from “Chi-Raq”

“Pray 4 My City” from “Chi-Raq”

“Sit Down For This” from “Chi-Raq”

“Strong” from “Cinderella”

“So Long” from “Concussion”

“Fighting Stronger” from “Creed”

“Grip” from “Creed”

“Waiting For My Moment” from “Creed”

“Don’t Look Down” from “Danny Collins”

“Hey Baby Doll” from “Danny Collins”

“Dreamsong” from “The Diary of a Teenage Girl”

“It’s My Turn Now” from “Dope”

“Ya Rahem, Maula Maula” from “Dukhtar”

“Earned It” from “Fifty Shades of Grey”

“Love Me Like You Do” from “Fifty Shades of Grey”

“Salted Wound” from “Fifty Shades of Grey”

“Hands Of Love” from “Freeheld”

“See You Again” from “Furious Seven”

“Brother” from “Godspeed: The Story of Page Jones”

“As Real As You And Me” from “Home”

“Dancing In The Dark” from “Home”

“Feel The Light” from “Home”

“Red Balloon” from “Home”

“Two Of A Crime” from “Hot Pursuit”

“Til It Happens To You” from “The Hunting Ground”

“I’ll See You In My Dreams” from “I’ll See You in My Dreams”

“The Movie About Us” from “Ingrid Bergman – In Her Own Words”

“Bhoomiyilenghanumundo” from “Jalam”

“Koodu Vaykkan” from “Jalam”

“Pakalppaathi Chaari” from “Jalam”

“Yaathra Manoradhamerum” from “Jalam”

“Lost In Love” from “Jenny’s Wedding”

“True Love Avenue” from “Jenny’s Wedding”

“Hypnosis” from “Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet”

“Juntos (Together)” from “McFarland, USA”

“The Light That Never Fails” from “Meru”

“The Crazy Ones” from “Miss You Already”

“There’s A Place” from “Miss You Already”

“Johanna” from “Mortdecai”

“Little Soldier” from “Pan”

“Something’s Not Right” from “Pan”

“Paranoid Girl” from “Paranoid Girls”

“Better When I’m Dancin'” from “The Peanuts Movie”

“Pink & Blue” from “Pink & Blue: Colors of Hereditary Cancer”

“Flashlight” from “Pitch Perfect 2”

“Birds Of A Feather” from “Poached”

“Still Breathing” from “Point Break”

“Manta Ray” from “Racing Extinction”

“Cold One” from “Ricki and the Flash”

“Torch” from “Rock the Kasbah”

“Someone Like You” from “The Rumperbutts”

“Aankhon Me Samaye Dil” from “Salt Bridge”

“Bachpana Thaa” from “Salt Bridge”

“Kanpne Lage Tum” from “Salt Bridge”

“Kyaa Bataaun Tujhe” from “Salt Bridge”

“Le Jaaye Jo Door Tumse” from “Salt Bridge”

“Na Jaane Kitni Door” from “Salt Bridge”

“Sookha Hi Rang Daalo” from “Salt Bridge”

“Feels Like Summer” from “Shaun the Sheep Movie”

“Phenomenal” from “Southpaw”

“Writing’s On The Wall” from “Spectre”

“Squeeze Me” from “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water”

“Teamwork” from “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water”

“Who Can You Trust” from “Spy”

“Came To Win” from “Sweet Micky for President”

“Mean Ol’ Moon” from “Ted 2”

“Love Was My Alibi” from “The Water Diviner”

“Fine On The Outside” from “When Marnie Was There”

“Simple Song #3” from “Youth”

The 88th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 14, 2016, at 5:30 a.m. PT at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

The 88th Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

15 Documentary Features Advance In 2015 Oscar® Race

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 88th Academy Awards®. One hundred twenty-four films were originally submitted in the category.what_happened_miss_simone

The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:winter_on_fire_xlg

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Amy,” On the Corner Films and Universal Music, http://www.amy-movie.com/

Best of Enemies,” Sandbar

Cartel Land,” Our Time Projects and The Documentary Group, www.cartellandmovie.com/ available on iTunes

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” Jigsaw Productions, http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/going-clear

He Named Me Malala,” Parkes-MacDonald and Little Room, http://www.henamedmemalalamovie.com/

Heart of a Dog,” Canal Street Communications, www.heartofadogfilm.com/

The Hunting Ground,” Chain Camera Pictures, http://www.thehuntinggroundfilm.com/

Listen to Me Marlon,” Passion Pictures, http://www.listentomemarlon.com/

The Look of Silence,” Final Cut for Real, http://thelookofsilence.com/, available on digital platforms December 1st

Meru,” Little Monster Films, http://www.musicboxfilms.com/meru-movies-123.php

3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets,” The Filmmaker Fund, Motto Pictures, Lakehouse Films, Actual

Films, JustFilms, MacArthur Foundation and Bertha BRITDOC

We Come as Friends,” Adelante Films, http://www.wecomeasfriends.com/us/

What Happened, Miss Simone?,” RadicalMedia and Moxie Firecracker

Where to Invade Next,” Dog Eat Dog Productions, http://www.wheretoinvadenext.com/

Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom,” Pray for Ukraine ProductionsWhere-to-Invade-Next (1)

 

The Academy’s Documentary Branch determined the shortlist in a preliminary round of voting. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles. The 88th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 14, 2016, at 5:30 a.m. PT at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The 88th Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 7 pm. ET/4 pm. PT. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

 

10 Live Action Shorts and 10 Animated Films Advance In 2015 Oscar® Race

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 10 live action short films will advance in the voting process for the 88th Academy Awards®. One hundred forty-four pictures had originally qualified in the category.

The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:

Ave Maria,” Basil Khalil, director, and Eric Dupont, producer (Incognito Films)

Bad Hunter,” Sahim Omar Kalifa, director, and Dries Phlypo, producer (A Private View)

Bis Gleich (Till Then),” Philippe Brenninkmeyer, producer, and Tara Lynn Orr, writer (avenueROAD Films)

Contrapelo (Against the Grain),” Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, director, and Pin-Chun Liu, producer (Ochenta y Cinco Films)

Day One,” Henry Hughes, director (American Film Institute)

Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut),” Patrick Vollrath, director (Filmakademie Wien)

The Free Man (Zi You Ren),” Quah Boon-Lip, director (Taipei National University of the Arts)

Shok,” Jamie Donoughue, director (Eagle Eye Films)

Stutterer,” Benjamin Cleary, director (Bare Golly Films)

Winter Light,” Julian Higgins, director, and Josh Pence, producer (Innerlight Films and Prelude Pictures)

Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch viewed all the eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting. Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will now select five nominees from among the 10 titles on the shortlist. Branch screenings will be held in Los Angeles, London, New York and San Francisco in December.

The Academy also announced that 10 animated short films will advance in the voting process for the 88th Academy Awards®. Sixty pictures had originally qualified in the category.

The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:

Bear Story (Historia De Un Oso),” Gabriel Osorio, director, and Pato Escala, producer (Punkrobot Animation Studio)

Carface (Autos Portraits),” Claude Cloutier, director (National Film Board of Canada)

If I Was God…,” Cordell Barker, director (National Film Board of Canada)

Love in the Time of March Madness,” Melissa Johnson and Robertino Zambrano, directors (High Hip Productions and KAPWA Studioworks)

My Home,” Phuong Mai Nguyen, director (Papy3D Productions)

An Object at Rest,” Seth Boyden, director (California Institute of the Arts)

Prologue,” Richard Williams, director, and Imogen Sutton, producer (Animation Masterclass)

Sanjay’s Super Team,” Sanjay Patel, director, and Nicole Grindle, producer (Pixar Animation Studios)

We Can’t Live without Cosmos,” Konstantin Bronzit, director (Melnitsa Animation Studio)

World of Tomorrow,” Don Hertzfeldt, director (Bitter Films)

Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch viewed all the eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting.

The 88th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 14, 2016, at 5:30 a.m. PT at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The 88th Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Reveals 2015 Student Academy Award® Winners

All Winning Films Now Eligible For Oscars®

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has voted fifteen students as winners of the 42nd Student Academy Awards competition. The Academy received a record number of entries this year — 1,686 films from 282 domestic and 93 international colleges and universities — which were voted upon by a record number of Academy members. The Student Academy Awards were established in 1972 to provide a platform for emerging global talent by creating opportunities within the industry to showcase their work. First-time honors go to Chapman University in the Alternative category and Filmakademie Wien in the Foreign Film competition. Academy members voted the winners from a field of 33 finalists, announced last month.

Past Student Academy Award winners have gone on to receive 47 Oscar® nominations and have won or shared eight awards. Previous winners include Pete Docter, John Lasseter, Spike Lee, Trey Parker and Robert Zemeckis.

The winners are (listed alphabetically by film title):

Alternative
Chiaroscuro,” Daniel Drummond, Chapman University, California
Zoe,” ChiHyun Lee, The School of Visual Arts, New York

Animation
An Object at Rest,” Seth Boyden, California Institute of the Arts
Soar,” Alyce Tzue, Academy of Art University, San Francisco
Taking the Plunge,” Nicholas Manfredi and Elizabeth Ku-Herrero, The School of Visual Arts

Documentary
Boxeadora,” Meg Smaker, Stanford University
I Married My Family’s Killer,” Emily Kassie, Brown University
Looking at the Stars,” Alexandre Peralta, University of Southern California

Narrative
Day One,” Henry Hughes, American Film Institute, California
Stealth,” Bennett Lasseter, American Film Institute
This Way Up,” Jeremy Cloe, American Film Institute

Foreign Film
Everything Will Be Okay…,” Patrick Vollrath, Filmakademie Wien, Austria
Fidelity,” Ilker Catak, Hamburg Media School, Germany
The Last Will,” Dustin Loose, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany

Students will arrive in Los Angeles for a week of industry activities that will culminate in the awards ceremony on Thursday, September 17, at 7:30 p.m., at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The medal placements – gold, silver and bronze – in the five award categories will be announced at the ceremony.

The 42nd Student Academy Awards ceremony on September 17 is free and open to the public, but advance tickets are required. Tickets may be obtained online at oscars.org today. Any remaining tickets will be made available at the door on the evening of the event. The Samuel Goldwyn Theater is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills.

 

SUBMISSION DEADLINES FOR 2015 OSCARS® APPROACHING

It seemed like only yesterday we all (well, most of us anyways) were drowning our mirth in drinking games while watching the Oscars and dissing virtually all aspects of the show, the host, the red carpet and the presenters. Well, it was actually months ago and a whole new Oscar campaign is about to begin and the race starts now! The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today published its list of upcoming submission deadlines for 88th Academy Awards® consideration. The submission process may be initiated online at submissions.oscars.org.  For the entire list of key dates and complete rules, please visit oscars.org/rules.

Submissions for individual categories and the General Entry/Official Screen Credits (OSC) forms are due by 5 p.m. PT on the following dates:

Scientific and Technical Awards
Documentary Short Subject
Documentary Feature
Animated Short Film
Live Action Short Film
Foreign Language Film
Animated Feature Film
Original Score
Original Song
General Entry/OSC Form
Friday, July 10
Tuesday, September 1
Monday, September 21
Thursday, October 1
Thursday, October 1
Thursday, October 1
Friday, October 30
Wednesday, December 2
Wednesday, December 2
Wednesday, December 2

The 88th Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.  The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

ACADEMY INVITES 322 TO MEMBERSHIP

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 322 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures.  Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2015.

Each year, each Academy member may sponsor one candidate for membership within their branch.  New member application reviews take place in the spring.  Applications for the coming year must be received by March 24, 2016. New members will be welcomed into the Academy at an invitation-only reception in September.

The 2015 invitees are:
Actors
Elizabeth Banks – “Love & Mercy,” “The Hunger Games”
Choi Min-sik– “Lucy,” “Oldboy”
Benedict Cumberbatch – “The Imitation Game,” “Star Trek Into Darkness”
Martin Freeman – “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” “Hot Fuzz”
Heather Graham – “The Hangover,” “Boogie Nights”
Tom Hardy – “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Inception”
Kevin Hart – “The Wedding Ringer,” “Ride Along”
Felicity Jones – “The Theory of Everything,” “Like Crazy”
Stephen Lang – “Avatar,” “The Men Who Stare at Goats”
Jodi Long – “A Picture of You,” “Beginners”
John Carroll Lynch – “Shutter Island,” “Zodiac”
Gugu Mbatha-Raw – “Beyond the Lights,” “Belle”
Denis O’Hare – “Milk,” “Michael Clayton”
Michael O’Neill – “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Transformers”
David Oyelowo – “Selma,” “A Most Violent Year”
Dev Patel – “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” “Slumdog Millionaire”
Rosamund Pike – “Gone Girl,” “Pride & Prejudice”
Chris Pine – “Into the Woods,” “Star Trek”
Daniel Radcliffe – “Kill Your Darlings,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
Eddie Redmayne – “The Theory of Everything,” “Les Misérables”
Jason Segel – “The Five-Year Engagement,” “The Muppets”
J.K. Simmons – “Whiplash,” “Juno”
Sonny Skyhawk – “Geronimo: An American Legend,” “Young Guns II”
Song Kang-ho – “Snowpiercer,” “The Host”
Emma Stone – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “The Help”

Casting Directors
Lucy Bevan – “Cinderella,” “The Hundred-Foot Journey”
Victoria Burrows – “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” “King Kong”
Aisha Coley – “Selma,” “Beyond the Lights”
Patricia DiCerto – “Blue Jasmine,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Mary Hidalgo – “The Lego Movie,” “The Incredibles”
Roger Mussenden – “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Get Smart”
Lucie Robitaille – “Incendies,” “The Barbarian Invasions”
Luis San Narciso – “The Skin I Live In,” “The Sea Inside”
April Webster – “Tomorrowland,” “Star Trek”
Tricia Wood – “Woman in Gold,” “The Lincoln Lawyer”

Cinematographers
Christopher Blauvelt – “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby,” “The Bling Ring”
Adriano Goldman – “August: Osage County,” “Jane Eyre”
Ben Kasulke – “Laggies,” “Safety Not Guaranteed”
Ryszard Lenczewski – “Ida,” “Margaret”
Jody Lee Lipes – “Ballet 422,” “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Sharone Meir – “Whiplash,” “Mean Creek”
Rachel Morrison – “Cake,” “Fruitvale Station”
Tristan Oliver – “ParaNorman,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
Hoyte Van Hoytema – “Interstellar,” “Her”
Roman Vasyanov – “Fury,” “End of Watch”
Łukasz Żal – “Ida,” “Joanna”

Costume Designers
Kasia Walicka Maimone – “Foxcatcher,” “Moonrise Kingdom”
Francesca Livia Sartori – “Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy,” “When the Night”
Jany Temime – “Gravity,” “Skyfall”

Designers
Ramsey Avery – “Tomorrowland,” “Star Trek Into Darkness”
Gae Buckley – “The Book of Eli,” “He’s Just Not That into You”
Keith Brian Burns – “The Best Man Holiday,” “2 Fast 2 Furious”
Lester W. Cohen – “Fading Gigolo,” “Cop Land”
Suzie Davies – “Mr. Turner,” “The Children”
John F. Fenner – “The Phantom of the Opera,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley”
Darren Gilford – “Oblivion,” “Tron: Legacy”
Derek R. Hill – “Southpaw,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”
Bryn Imagire – “Cars 2,” “Up”
Dina Lipton – “Baggage Claim,” “Love Hurts”
Tatiana Macdonald – “The Imitation Game,” “The Invisible Woman”
Dominic Masters – “Woman in Gold,” “Casino Royale”
Doug Meerdink – “Jurassic World,” “Ocean’s Thirteen”
Chris Spellman – “Paper Towns,” “This Is the End”
Patrick Tatopoulos – “300: Rise of an Empire,” “Total Recall”
Charlotte Watts – “Mr. Holmes,” “Mr. Turner”

Directors
Michael Binder – “Black or White,” “Reign over Me”
Bong Joon-ho – “Snowpiercer,” “Mother”
Niki Caro – “North Country,” “Whale Rider”
Damien Chazelle* – “Whiplash,” “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench”
Simon Curtis – “Woman in Gold,” “My Week with Marilyn”
François Girard – “Silk,” “The Red Violin”
F. Gary Gray – “The Italian Job,” “Friday”
James Gunn – “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Super”
Im Kwon-taek – “Chi-Hwa-Seon (Painted Fire),” “Chunhyang”
Stan Lathan – “Beat Street,” “Amazing Grace”
Malcolm D. Lee* – “The Best Man Holiday,” “The Best Man”
Justin Lin – “Fast & Furious 6,” “Better Luck Tomorrow”
François Ozon – “Young & Beautiful,” “Swimming Pool”
Paweł Pawlikowski* – “Ida,” “My Summer of Love”
Kelly Reichardt – “Meek’s Cutoff,” “Wendy and Lucy”
Ira Sachs – “Love Is Strange,” “Keep the Lights On”
Lynn Shelton – “Laggies,” “Your Sister’s Sister”
Abderrahmane Sissako* – “Timbuktu,” “Bamako”
Damián Szifron* – “Wild Tales,” “On Probation”
Fernando Trueba – “Chico & Rita,” “Belle Epoque”
Morten Tyldum – “The Imitation Game,” “Headhunters”
Zaza Urushadze – “Tangerines,” “The Guardian”
Wayne Wang – “Anywhere but Here,” “The Joy Luck Club”
Edgar Wright – “The World’s End,” “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”
Joe Wright – “Anna Karenina,” “Atonement”
Andrey Zvyagintsev* – “Leviathan,” “Elena”

Documentary
Richard Berge – “The Island President,” “The Rape of Europa”
Mathilde Bonnefoy* – “CitizenFour,” “The Invisibles”
Emad Burnat – “5 Broken Cameras”
Guy Davidi – “5 Broken Cameras,” “Interrupted Streams”
Geralyn Dreyfous – “The Square,” “The Invisible War”
Lewis Erskine – “Free Angela: And All Political Prisoners,” “Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple”
Shana Hagan – “Misconception,” “This Film Is Not Yet Rated”
Tony Hardmon – “Detropia,” “Semper Fi: Always Faithful”
Leonard Retel Helmrich – “Position among the Stars,” “Shape of the Moon”
Pirjo Honkasalo – “The 3 Rooms of Melancholia,” “Atman”
Judy Irving – “Pelican Dreams,” “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill”
Robert Kenner – “Merchants of Doubt,” “Food, Inc.”
Marc Levin – “Mr. Untouchable,” “The Last Party”
Jesse Moss – “The Overnighters,” “Full Battle Rattle”
Pratibha Parmar – “Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth,” “A Place of Rage”
Paula DuPre’ Pesmen – “Keep On Keepin’ On,” “The Cove”
Gordon Quinn – “Life Itself,” “Hoop Dreams”
Kim Roberts – “Waiting for ‘Superman’,” “Lost Boys of Sudan”
Richard Rowley – “Dirty Wars,” “The Fourth World War”
João Moreira Salles – “Santiago,” “Entreatos (Intermissions)”
Ondi Timoner – “We Live in Public,” “Dig!”
Executives
Carolyn Blackwood
Robbie Brenner
Lia Buman
Steve Burke
David Fenkel
Mellody Hobson
Brian Keane
Steven Paul O’Dell
Jim Orr
Mark Rachesky
Ted Sarandos
Jeff Shell

Film Editors
Craig Alpert – “Pitch Perfect 2,” “Pineapple Express”
Mick Audsley – “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” “Dirty Pretty Things”
Pablo Barbieri – “Wild Tales,” “La Antena (The Aerial)”
Nadia Ben Rachid – “Timbuktu,” “Bamako”
Kristina Boden – “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby,” “Cake”
Mathilde Bonnefoy* – “CitizenFour,” “Run Lola Run”
Julian Clarke – “Chappie,” “District 9”
Douglas Crise – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Babel”
Tom Cross – “Whiplash,” “Any Day Now”
Jinx Godfrey – “The Theory of Everything,” “Man on Wire”
Robert Grahamjones – “Brave,” “Ratatouille”
Masahiro Hirakubo – “Virunga,” “The Duchess”
Jarosław Kamiński – “Ida,” “Aftermath (Pokłosie)”
William Kerr – “Bridesmaids,” “I Love You, Man”
Nico Leunen – “Lost River,” “The Broken Circle Breakdown”
Mike McCusker – “Get On Up,” “3:10 to Yuma”
Tim Mertens – “Big Hero 6,” “Wreck-It Ralph”
Barney Pilling – “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “An Education”
David Rennie – “22 Jump Street,” “Office Space”
Gary D. Roach – “American Sniper,” “Prisoners”
Michael L. Sale – “We’re the Millers,” “Bridesmaids”
Stephen Schaffer – “Cars 2,” “WALL-E”
Job ter Burg – “Borgman,” “Winter in Wartime”
Peter Teschner – “St. Vincent,” “Horrible Bosses”
Tara Timpone – “Friends with Kids,” “Bad Teacher”

Makeup Artists and Hairstylists
Frida S. Aradottir – “August: Osage County,” “A Serious Man”
Victoria Down – “Big Eyes,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
Frances Hannon – “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “The King’s Speech”
Todd Kleitsch – “Run All Night,” “Black Swan”
Dennis Liddiard – “Foxcatcher,” “Jobs”
Jerry Popolis – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Noah”
Janine Rath-Thompson – “Star Trek Into Darkness,” “Bridesmaids”
Johnny Villanueva – “The Gambler,” “The Fighter”
David White – “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “La Vie en Rose”
Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou – “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “An Education”

Members-at-Large
Andy Armstrong
Wayne Billheimer
Kevin Brownlow
Simon Crane
Debbie Denise
Jeff Habberstad
Andy Hendrickson
Elissa M. Rashkin Loparco
Guido Quaroni
Nicole Scalise
Steven J. Scott
Leon D. Silverman
Gregg Smrz
Lynda Ellenshaw Thompson
Steve Venezia

Music
Tyler Bates – “John Wick,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”
Alex Gibson – “Interstellar,” “The Dark Knight”
Jonny Greenwood – “Inherent Vice,” “The Master”
Dave Grusin – “Skating to New York,” “The Firm”
Alex Heffes – “Love and Honor,” “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”
Lisa Jaime – “Annie,” “Rock of Ages”
Jóhann Jóhannsson – “The Theory of Everything,” “Prisoners”
Laura Karpman – “States of Grace,” “Black Nativity”
Christopher Lennertz – “The Wedding Ringer,” “Horrible Bosses”
Lonnie Lynn – “Selma,” “Freedom Writers”
Chris McGeary – “Jersey Boys,” “RoboCop”
Sergio Mendes – “Rio 2,” “Rio”
Daniel Pinder – “Big Hero 6,” “Captain Phillips”
Trent Reznor – “Gone Girl,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Atticus Ross – “Love & Mercy,” “The Social Network”
John Stephens – “Selma,” “Django Unchained”
Marc Streitenfeld – “Poltergeist,” “Prometheus”
Erica Weis – “Spy,” “The Heat”
Gary Yershon – “Mr. Turner,” “Another Year”

Producers
Caroline Baron – “Capote,” “Monsoon Wedding”
Effie T. Brown – “Dear White People,” “Real Women Have Curves”
Terence Chang – “Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale,” “Face/Off”
Wyck Godfrey – “The Fault in Our Stars,” “Twilight”
Jeremy Kleiner – “Selma,” “12 Years a Slave”
Pamela Koffler – “Still Alice,” “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”
Gina Kwon – “Camp X-Ray,” “Me and You and Everyone We Know”
Dan Lin – “The Lego Movie,” “Sherlock Holmes”
Eric Newman – “RoboCop,” “Children of Men”
Bruna Papandrea – “Wild,” “All Good Things”
Lydia Dean Pilcher – “Cutie and the Boxer,” “The Darjeeling Limited”
Rebecca Yeldham – “On the Road,” “The Kite Runner”

Public Relations
Jennifer Allen
Asad Ayaz
Dawn Baillie
Andrew Bernstein
Liz Biber
Mara Buxbaum
Lee Ginsberg
R. Jeff Hill
Michelle Hooper
Chris Libby
Susan Norget
Lewis Oberlander
Gordon Paddison
Elias Plishner
David Pollick
Weiman Seid
LeeAnne Stables
Ryan Stankevich
Bonnie Voland

Short Films and Feature Animation
Alan Barillaro – “Brave,” “WALL-E”
Kristine Belson – “The Croods,” “How to Train Your Dragon”
Darlie Brewster – “Curious George,” “The Prince of Egypt”
Roy Conli – “Big Hero 6,” “Tangled”
Ronnie Del Carmen – “Up,” “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron”
Paul A. Felix – “Big Hero 6,” “Lilo & Stitch”
Michael Fukushima – “Me and My Moulton,” “Dimanche/Sunday”
Don Hall – “Big Hero 6,” “Winnie the Pooh”
Talkhon Hamzavi – “Parvaneh,” “Taub”
Hu Wei – “Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak),” “Le Propriétaire”
Jin Kim – “Big Hero 6,” “Bolt”
Mat Kirkby – “The Phone Call,” “Hard to Swallow”
David Kneupper – “Alex and Sylvia,” “The Civil War in 4 Minutes”
Michael Lennox – “Boogaloo and Graham,” “The Back of Beyond”
Fabio Lignini – “How to Train Your Dragon 2,” “Puss in Boots”
James Lucas – “The Phone Call”
Patrick Osborne – “Feast,” “Paperman”
Jerome Ranft – “Toy Story 3,” “Ratatouille”
Jim Reardon – “Wreck-It Ralph,” “WALL-E”
Kristina Reed – “Feast,” “Paperman”
Jason Reisig – “Home,” “Shrek Forever After”
Nicolas Schmerkin – “Habana,” “Logorama”
Anthony Stacchi – “The Boxtrolls,” “Open Season”
Isao Takahata – “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya,” “Grave of the Fireflies”
Michael Thurmeier – “Ice Age: Continental Drift,” “No Time for Nuts”
Marlon West – “Frozen,” “The Princess and the Frog”

Sound
Ray Beckett – “Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Hurt Locker”
Odin Benitez – “Frozen,” “Silver Linings Playbook”
Ron Bochar – “Mortdecai,” “Moneyball”
Jason Canovas – “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” “World War Z”
Thomas Curley – “Whiplash,” “The Spectacular Now”
Michael Dressel – “American Sniper,” “Interstellar”
Mary H. Ellis – “Vacation,” “Prisoners”
Stephanie Flack – “Jupiter Ascending,” “Ender’s Game”
Martín Hernández – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Biutiful”
Dean Humphreys – “Taken 3,” “The Pianist”
William Johnston – Vice President of Engineering, Formosa Group
Shawn Jones – “Iron Man 3,” “Drive”
Daniel Laurie – “Inside Out,” “Big Hero 6”
David Lee – “Unbroken,” “The Matrix”
Craig Mann – “Dope,” “Whiplash”
Kyrsten Mate – “Tomorrowland,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”
Shannon J. Mills – “Inside Out,” “Big Hero 6”
Bryan K. Pennington – “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” “Promised Land”
Juan P. Peralta – “Tomorrowland,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”
John Ross – “Danny Collins,” “American Hustle”
Peter Staubli – “San Andreas,” “Skyfall”
Mark Taylor – “Edge of Tomorrow,” “Captain Phillips”
Addison Teague – “Big Hero 6,” “The Amazing Spider-Man”
Jon Title – “San Andreas,” “The Divergent Series: Insurgent”
Thomas Varga – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “The Immigrant”
Ben Wilkins – “Whiplash,” “Star Trek”

Visual Effects
Nicolas Aithadi – “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “X-Men: First Class”
Daniel Barrett – “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”
Stephane Ceretti – “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Cloud Atlas”
Paul Corbould – “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”
Tim Crosbie – “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “The Wolverine”
Dan DeLeeuw – “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Iron Man 3”
Sean Faden – “Fast & Furious 6,” “Let Me In”
Joe Farrell – “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Hereafter”
Scott R. Fisher – “Interstellar,” “The Dark Knight Rises”
Chris Harvey – “Chappie,” “Fast & Furious 6”
Alex Jaeger – “Tomorrowland,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”
Matt Kutcher – “Focus,” “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”
Andrew Lockley – “Interstellar,” “Inception”
Gray Marshall – “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Captain America: The First Avenger”
Carl Miller – “Jurassic World,” “Elysium”
David Nakabayashi – “Tomorrowland,” “Avatar”
Rocco Passionino – “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Spider-Man 2”
Lou Pecora – “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
Cary Phillips – “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
Ellen Poon – “Frozen,” “Inception”
Edwin Rivera – “22 Jump Street,” “Moneyball”
Cameron Waldbauer – “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Elysium”
Erik Winquist – “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” “Avatar”

Writers
Armando Bo – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Biutiful”
Damien Chazelle* – “Whiplash,” “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench”
Álex de la Iglesia – “El Crimen Perfecto,” “The Day of the Beast”
Rick Famuyiwa – “Dope,” “The Wood”
Maya Forbes – “Infinitely Polar Bear,” “Monsters vs Aliens”
E. Max Frye – “Foxcatcher,” “Something Wild”
Nicolás Giacobone – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Biutiful”
Dan Gilroy – “Nightcrawler,” “The Bourne Legacy”
Jorge Guerricaechevarría – “Cell 211,” “The Day of the Beast”
Rita Hsiao – “Toy Story 2,” “Mulan”
Simon Kinberg – “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Sherlock Holmes”
Malcolm D. Lee* – “The Best Man Holiday,” “The Best Man”
Christopher Markus – “Thor: The Dark World,” “Captain America: The First Avenger”
Stephen McFeely – “Thor: The Dark World,” “Captain America: The First Avenger”
Graham Moore – “The Imitation Game”
Paweł Pawlikowski* – “Ida,” “My Summer of Love”
Abderrahmane Sissako* – “Timbuktu,” “Bamako”
Damián Szifron* – “Wild Tales,” “On Probation”
Kessen Tall – “Timbuktu”
Tyger Williams – “The Perfect Guy,” “Menace II Society”
Andrey Zvyagintsev* – “Leviathan,” “Elena”

Associates
Victoria Belfrage
Josh Braun
Wayne Fitterman
Sharon Jackson
Patricia Keighley
Cliff Roberts
Elyse Scherz
James Toth
Bart Walker
Seven individuals (noted above by an asterisk) have been invited to join the Academy by multiple branches. These individuals must select one branch upon accepting membership.

It’s gratifying to acknowledge the extraordinary range of talent in our industry,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs.  “This year, our branches have recognized a more diverse and inclusive list of filmmakers and artists than ever before, and we look forward to adding their creativity, ideas and experience to our organization.”

THE ACADEMY LAUNCHES “ACES” AS GLOBAL DIGITAL PRODUCTION AND ARCHIVING STANDARD

Color management and image interchange system targets production, mastering and long-term archiving of motion pictures. ACES Logo Program encourages industry-wide adoption.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces the launch of the Academy Color Encoding System (ACES), a free, open, device-independent color management and image interchange system that offers a critically needed global industry standard for motion picture and television production.

From image capture through editing, VFX, mastering, public presentation, archiving and future remastering, ACES enables a consistent color experience that preserves the filmmaker’s creative vision.  It addresses and solves a number of significant production, post-production and archiving problems that have arisen with the increasing variety of digital cameras and formats in use, along with the surge in the number of productions that rely on worldwide collaboration using shared digital image files.

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ACES Logo. Image courtesy of the Academy

 

A decade ago, the Academy recognized the need for a new set of infrastructure standards as the industry moved from film to digital,” said Richard Edlund, Academy governor and founding member of the Academy’s Science and Technology Council.  “We made a deep commitment to the effort – coordinating hundreds of top industry scientists, engineers and filmmakers on years of research, testing and field trials – so we’re both proud and excited to launch ACES 1.0 as the first production-ready release of the system.”

The Academy is simultaneously launching the ACES Logo Program to encourage consistent, high-quality implementations of ACES concepts and technical specifications throughout the industry.  Initially focused on production and post-production equipment such as cameras, color correctors, displays and visual effects and animation software, the Logo Program is the first step toward enabling facilities and productions to take full advantage of ACES benefits.  There are 22 leading companies already in the Logo Program: ARRI, Assimilate, Autodesk, Canon U.S.A., Codex, Colorfront, Deluxe Media Creative Services, Digital Vision, Dolby Laboratories, FilmLight, FotoKem, The Foundry, FUJIFILM North America, Light Illusion, MTI Film, Panasonic, Pomfort, Quantel, RED Digital Cinema, SGO, Shotgun Digital and Sony Electronics.

ACES has been used on scores of film and television productions to date, including such features as “Chappie,” “The Lego Movie,” “Big Eyes,” “Elysium,” “Oblivion” and “Chasing Mavericks.”

As part of the ACES launch, the Academy will be exhibiting at the 2015 NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) Show, April 13–16 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, in booth C9132.  The Academy also will make two ACES presentations: the first as part of the Technology Summit on Cinema, and the second in conjunction with NAB’s Creative Master Series Science and Technology Council Managing Director Andy Maltz will make the Summit presentation “The Academy Color Encoding System (ACES): A Digital Production Infrastructure Standard,” covering the science, engineering and practical application of ACES, on Saturday, April 11, at 4:15 p.m.  The panel session “Coming to You Live: ACES 1.0,” with top industry professionals discussing how ACES helped them successfully manage complex cinematography, visual effects and color correction issues on a variety of motion picture and television projects, will take place on Tuesday, April 14, at 3 p.m. For more information about ACES or the ACES Logo Program, visit Oscars.org/ACES.

THE ACADEMY EXPLORES ROBOTS, SCIENCE AND SUPERHEROES WITH “DECONSTRUCTING BIG HERO 6”

“Listen up! Use those big brains of yours to think your way around the problem! Look for a new angle!” –Hiro Hamada

big_hero_8-calendar

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will examine the creative leaps and technical innovations that went into crafting “Big Hero 6,” this year’s Oscar® winner for Best Animated Feature Film, on Thursday, April 23, at 7:30 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater (8949 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90212) in Beverly Hills. Hosted by Academy governor Bill Kroyer. With special guests: directors Don Hall and Chris Williams, producer Roy Conli, visual effects supervisor Kyle Odermatt, head of animation Zach Parrish and director of cinematography lighting Adolph Lusinsky.

Big Hero 6 tells the story of fourteen-year-old science prodigy Hiro, who spends his time developing fighting robots for underground competitions until his older brother introduces him to an eccentric group of young inventors. When the talented misfits band together to fight a dangerous villain, they gain an unlikely ally: a gentle healthcare bot named Baymax.

When I was a kid, I loved Marvel comics. While working onWinnie the Pooh, I asked John Lasseter if I could explore the Marvel world for inspiration for my next film. I was encouraged to explore the Marvel vaults and one of the projects I found was calledBig Hero 6. I’d never heard of it, but I liked the title and its Japanese influences.” –Big Hero 6 director Don Hall

The filmmaking team, led by directors Hall and Williams and producer Conli, steered the Marvel source material in different directions while emphasizing that technology and intelligence are the “superpowers” of the story’s heroes. Research into the cutting edge of robot technology, particularly the soft robotics being developed at Carnegie Mellon University, led to the evolution of the film’s lovable healthcare android Baymax as well as Hiro’s microbots. The film’s animation team studied robots, human babies and a variety of animals to help refine Baymax’s awkward but appealing style of movement, finding their greatest inspiration in the waddle of baby penguins.

The creation of the film’s world was equally inventive and groundbreaking in the creative and technical realms. The team chose to set their emotional yet action-packed story in the hybrid city of “San Fransokyo,” incorporating Japanese elements into an unusually detailed and geographically precise reimagining of contemporary San Francisco. To bring this novel setting to cinematic life they incorporated state-of-the-art animation and computing technologies, making use of a cloud-based, 55,000-core supercomputer that was physically located in four separate geographic sites.

Disney’s brand-new Hyperion rendering system, a breakthrough in simulating complex and realistic lighting in computer animation, allowed “digital scouting” of an imaginary city with 83,000 buildings, 260,000 trees, 215,000 street lamps (of six different styles) and 100,000 vehicles. Meanwhile, the filmmakers used Denizen software to populate their story with approximately 700,000 distinct people, including 6,000 featured in the opening shot alone.

The evening will include film sequences and “making-of” clips alongside presentations and panel discussions highlighting the movie’s production process. The program will examine the creative and technical challenges of crafting this thrilling yet heartwarming hit.

Tickets: $5 general admission/$3 Academy members and students with a valid ID. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the world’s preeminent movie-related organization, with a membership of more than 6,000 of the most accomplished men and women working in cinema. In addition to the annual Academy Awards—in which the members vote to select the nominees and winners — the Academy presents a diverse year-round slate of public programs, exhibitions and events; acts as a neutral advocate in the advancement of motion picture technology; and, through its Margaret Herrick Library and Academy Film Archive, collects, preserves, restores and provides access to movies and items related to their history. Through these and other activities the Academy serves students, historians, the entertainment industry and people everywhere who love movies.

ACADEMY ANNOUNCES 2015 GOVERNORS BALL CREATIVE TEAM

Academy Governor Jeffrey Kurland, event producer Cheryl Cecchetto and master chef Wolfgang Puck will return to create this year’s Governors Ball, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ official post-Oscar® celebration, which will immediately follow the 87th Oscars® ceremony on Sunday, February 22.  The Ball’s 1,500 invited guests include Oscar winners and nominees, show presenters and other telecast participants.

The artistry and glamour that have truly defined Hollywood for decades will be highlighted at 87th Oscars Governors Ball,” said Kurland.  “We’ve selected the most stunning imagery from the Academy’s vast collections to set the stage for our guests.  The Academy will honor and share these timeless moments of a legacy that is in our blood and truly makes us who we are.”

As the chair of the Governors Ball, Kurland will oversee the décor, menu and entertainment planning, as well as design the attire to be worn by the evening’s staff.  Kurland is an acclaimed costume designer whose feature credits include “Hannah and Her Sisters,” “Radio Days,” “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” “Erin Brockovich,” “Ocean’s Eleven,” “Inception,” “Beautiful Creatures” and the upcoming “Tomorrowland.”  He received an Oscar nomination for Costume Design for “Bullets over Broadway.”  This will be Kurland’s sixth year serving as Governors Ball chair.

Cecchetto, along with her Sequoia Productions team, will work with Kurland to manage every detail pertaining to the event, including décor, entertainment, food and personnel.  Sequoia Productions’ clients include the TelevisionAcademy, G’Day USA, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Westfield and the UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay.  This will be Cecchetto’s 26th consecutive year producing the Governors Ball.

Master chef Wolfgang Puck and Matt Bencivenga, chef partner of Wolfgang Puck Catering, have drawn upon vintage and contemporary Hollywood glamour to create a menu that’s both legendary and innovative.  The menu will feature more than 50 imaginative dishes, from one-bite hors d’oeuvres to small-plate entrees that will be passed throughout the evening.  Guests will enjoy such signature Puck favorites as smoked salmon Oscars, chicken pot pie with shaved black truffles, and mini American Wagyu burgers with aged Cheddar.

Puck also will present classic dishes re-imagined for Hollywood’s big night, including lobster “BLT”; beet latkes with pastrami duck and apple mustard; and dover sole with orange miso vinaigrette.  Appealing to diverse palates will be modern vegetarian dishes featuring local organic produce, such as parsnip soup with white chocolate, pears and 24k gold; and artichokes with asparagus, fava beans, baby beets and citrus vinaigrette.

This year’s dynamic pastry team includes Della Gossett, Spago’s executive pastry chef; Kamel Guechida, corporate director of pastry for the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group; and Jason Lemonnier, Los Angeles pastry chef for Wolfgang Puck Catering.  Together these chefs will create such innovative and elegant seasonal desserts as apple millefeuille with cider jelly, peanut butter strawberry lollipop, and milk chocolate panna cotta with raspberry and cherry, as well as Puck’s traditional 24k gold chocolate Oscars.  CEO Carl Schuster directs more than 900 event staff through the detailed logistics and hospitality experience. This is Puck’s 21st consecutive year creating the menu for the Governors Ball.

The Governors Ball will take place in the Ray Dolby Ballroom on the top level of the Hollywood & Highland Center® immediately following the Oscar telecast.

The 87th Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.  The Oscars, produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

 

THE ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ART AND SCIENCES CELEBRATES COSTUME DESIGN WITH OSCAR® CLASSICS “TAXI DRIVER,” “ANNIE HALL,” “THE GODFATHER,” AND “MARY POPPINS”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences begins 2015 with two new screening series, Street Clothes: Contemporary Costuming in New Hollywood and Two Sides of a Costume Designer, in conjunction with the landmark Hollywood Costume exhibition now on view.

Street Clothes: Contemporary Costuming in New Hollywood
Showcasing the groundbreaking urban American films of the late 1960s and 1970s, the Academy’s new Friday evening series will demonstrate how a designer’s work can be a key element in creating contemporary characters. The first five programs feature costumes designers Theoni V. Aldredge (“Network”), Ruth Morley (“Annie Hall”),Rosanna Norton (“Cisco Pike”), Ann Roth (“Klute”) and Albert Wolsky (“All That Jazz”).

January 9
Midnight Cowboy – 7:30 p.m.
Cisco Pike – 9:40 p.m.

January 16
Klute – 7:30 p.m.
Network – 9:40 p.m.

January 23
All That Jazz – 7:30 p.m.
Phantom of the Paradise – 9:50 p.m.

January 30
Taxi Driver – 7:30 p.m.
Uptight – 9:40 p.m.

February 6
Annie Hall – 7:30 p.m.
Fingers – 9:20 p.m.

Two Sides of a Costume Designer
The Academy’s new Saturday evening series demonstrates the remarkable creative range of many of cinema’s top designers over the decades. The series kicks off in January with four double features pairing impressive and varied achievements by designers working in multiple genres. The costume designers highlighted include Milena Canonero (“Barry Lyndon,” “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou”), Anna Hill Johnstone (“East of Eden,” “The Godfather”), Theadora Van Runkle (“Bonnie and Clyde,” “The Godfather Part II”) and Tony Walton (“Fahrenheit 451,” “Mary Poppins”).

January 10
Fahrenheit 451 – 5 p.m.
Mary Poppins – 7:30 p.m.

January 17
East of Eden – 5 p.m.
The Godfather – 7:30 p.m.

January 24
Bonnie and Clyde – 5 p.m.
The Godfather Part II – 7:30 p.m.

January 31
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou – 5 p.m.
Barry Lyndon – 7:30 p.m.

 

7 FEATURES ADVANCE IN RACE FOR MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING OSCAR®

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that seven films remain in competition in the Makeup and Hairstyling category for the 87th Academy Awards®.

The films are listed below in alphabetical order:

“The Amazing Spider-Man 2”
“Foxcatcher”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“Guardians of the Galaxy”
“Maleficent”
“Noah”
“The Theory of Everything”

On Saturday, January 10, 2015, all members of the Academy’s Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films.  Following the screenings, members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration.

The 87th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.

79 ORIGINAL SONGS VIE FOR 2014 OSCAR®

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that 79 songs from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2014 are in contention for nominations in the Original Song category for the 87th Oscars®. During the nominations process, all voting members of the Music Branch will receive a Reminder List of works submitted in the category and a DVD copy of the song clips.  Members will be asked to watch the clips and then vote in the order of their preference for not more than five achievements in the category.  The five achievements receiving the highest number of votes will become the nominations for final voting for the award.  A maximum of two songs may be nominated from any one film. To be eligible, a song must consist of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the film.  A clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition of both lyric and melody must be used in the body of the film or as the first music cue in the end credits.

The original songs, along with the motion picture in which each song is featured, are listed below in alphabetical order by film title and song title:

“It’s On Again” from “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”
“Opportunity” from “Annie”
“Lost Stars” from “Begin Again”
“Grateful” from “Beyond the Lights”
“Big Eyes” from “Big Eyes”
“Immortals” from “Big Hero 6”
“The Apology Song” from “The Book of Life”
“I Love You Too Much” from “The Book of Life”
“The Boxtrolls Song” from “The Boxtrolls”
“Quattro Sabatino” from “The Boxtrolls”
“Ryan’s Song” from “Boyhood”
“Split The Difference” from “Boyhood”
“No Fate Awaits Me” from “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them”
“Brave Souls” from “Dolphin Tale 2”
“You Got Me” from “Dolphin Tale 2”
“All Our Endless Love” from “Endless Love”
“Let Me In” from “The Fault in Our Stars”
“Not About Angels” from “The Fault in Our Stars”
“Until The End” from “Garnet’s Gold”
“It Just Takes A Moment” from “Girl on a Bicycle”
“Last Stop Paris” from “Girl on a Bicycle”
“Ordinary Human” from “The Giver”
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from “Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me”
“Find A Way” from “The Good Lie”
“Color The World” from “The Hero of Color City”
“The Last Goodbye” from “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”
“Chariots” from “The Hornet’s Nest”
“Follow Me” from “The Hornet’s Nest”
“Something To Shoot For” from “Hot Guys with Guns”
“For The Dancing And The Dreaming” from “How to Train Your Dragon 2”
“Afreen” from “The Hundred-Foot Journey”
“Yellow Flicker Beat” from “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1”
“Heart Like Yours” from “If I Stay”
“I Never Wanted To Go” from “If I Stay”
“Mind” from “If I Stay”
“Everything Is Awesome” from “The Lego Movie”
“Call Me When You Find Yourself” from “Life Inside Out”
“Coming Back To You” from “Life of an Actress The Musical”
“The Life Of An Actress” from “Life of an Actress The Musical”
“Sister Rust” from “Lucy”
“You Fooled Me” from “Merchants of Doubt”
“Million Dollar Dream” from “Million Dollar Arm”
“Spreading The Word/Makhna” from “Million Dollar Arm”
“We Could Be Kings” from “Million Dollar Arm”
“A Million Ways To Die” from “A Million Ways to Die in the West”
“Way Back When” from “Mr. Peabody & Sherman”
“America For Me” from “A Most Violent Year”
“I’ll Get You What You Want (Cockatoo In Malibu)” from “Muppets Most Wanted”
“Something So Right” from “Muppets Most Wanted”
“We’re Doing A Sequel” from “Muppets Most Wanted”
“Mercy Is” from “Noah”
“Seeds” from “Occupy the Farm”
“Grant My Freedom” from “The One I Wrote for You”
“The One I Wrote For You” from “The One I Wrote for You”
“Hal” from “Only Lovers Left Alive”
“Shine” from “Paddington”
“Still I Fly” from “Planes: Fire & Rescue”
“Batucada Familia” from “Rio 2”
“Beautiful Creatures” from “Rio 2”
“Poisonous Love” from “Rio 2”
“What Is Love” from “Rio 2”
“Over Your Shoulder” from “Rudderless”
“Sing Along” from “Rudderless”
“Stay With You” from “Rudderless”
“Everyone Hides” from “St. Vincent”
“Why Why Why” from “St. Vincent”
“Glory” from “Selma”
“The Morning” from “A Small Section of the World”
“Special” from “Special”
“Gimme Some” from “#Stuck”
“The Only Thing” from “Third Person”
“Battle Cry” from “Transformers: Age of Extinction”
“Miracles” from “Unbroken”
“Summer Nights” from “Under the Electric Sky”
“We Will Not Go” from “Virunga”
“Heavenly Father” from “Wish I Was Here”
“So Now What” from “Wish I Was Here”
“Long Braid” from “Work Weather Wife”
“Moon” from “Work Weather Wife”

The 87th Academy Awards® nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.  The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.