The 94th Academy Awards nominees have been unveiled, reigniting Oscar excitement. With 12 nods, Jane Campion's gritty western The Power of the Dog, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, tops this year's Oscar nominees.
Dune comes in second with ten, followed by Belfast and West Side Story with seven each. The Oscars will be held on March 27 and will return to their traditional setting, the Dolby Theatre, after being postponed this year to accommodate the Olympics.
But, before the winners are revealed in March, wouldn't it be interesting to learn how they are chosen?
Okay, so the honourees are chosen by more than 9,300 professionals in the entertainment industry. The figure is a record milestone. But who are they, and how did they end up on the ballot? To understand that, here's a glimpse at the complicated, sometimes perplexing process that leads to the 23 Academy Award winners:
There are now 9,362 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles. Actors, directors, producers, costume designers, and other members of the Academy are organised into 17 branches. Furthermore, candidates must be involved in the industry or have "achieved distinction" in some way.
The applicant's branch must be sponsored by two Academy members. Oscar winners and nominees are ineligible for sponsorship and are immediately admitted to the club.
The Academy's Board of Governors reviews applications once a year and makes the final decision on who gets in. Members used to have lifetime voting rights, but since 2016, "voting status" has been limited to ten years and renewable in order to avoid having members who are no longer involved in the business.
After three 10-year terms, you get lifetime voting rights. Those who are no longer active are referred to as "emeritus" members, and they are not eligible to vote.
The Academy has kept its voting list secret for a very long time, however nothing precludes a member from claiming to be able to vote. The Academy reported that 93 per cent of its 6,000 members were white and 76 per cent were men during the #OscarsSoWhite outrage in 2015 and 2016, concerning the absence of nominees of colour. The average age was 63 years old.
To encourage a more varied atmosphere, the Academy declared it will increase the number of women and minorities members by 2020. The organisation stated last summer that it had achieved its aim. One-third of the Academy's members are women, while 19 percent are "underrepresented minorities." The group's international membership has also increased dramatically. More than 2,100 people are now non-citizens of the United States.
Each of the 17 branches selects nominees in their respective fields of competence. The main voting group, the actors' branch, submits nominations for acting categories, while directors contribute nominations for best director, and so on.
Special committees select nominees for specific categories, such as best international picture and best animated movie. The best picture nominees are chosen by a vote of the full membership.
The winners are chosen by all of the voting members. In 22 of the 23 categories, the individual who receives the most votes wins. However, when it comes to the prized best picture award, Oscar voters have adopted a convoluted preferential ballot system since 2009, in which they rate the films from most to least favourite.
The number of nominees might range from five to ten. If a film receives more than 50% of the votes, it is declared the winner.
Otherwise, the vote is counted in rounds, with the film with the fewest first-place votes being removed and those votes being allocated to the voters' second choice. The process of elimination continues until only one film is left with more than 50 per cent of the votes.?
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