“For a film to be eligible for the Oscars, from 2024, it will have to respect very strict ethnic quotas, both behind the camera, therefore the technicians, the producers, the distribution team etc. and on the screen, therefore the actors”, affirms the essayist and writer Samuel Fitoussi in an interview video for the media classified as far-right Black Book published on November 1, 2023.
In this interview entitled “Wokism is corrupting the world of culture!” », the essayist elaborated: “A film which has too many actors of a certain skin color and insufficient actors of another skin color will not be eligible. This goes very far because the production company that produces a film will have to indicate on an Internet platform the skin color, gender and sexual orientation of all the people involved in the creation of the film, and based on that, the Academy of Oscars will say if the film is eligible for the Oscars or not […] “.
Inclusivity standards for the “best film” category
It is true that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which delivers the Oscars, the American ceremony which rewards the best films released each year, has decided to include standards of inclusiveness for its 96th ceremony, which will take place on March 10, 2024.
However, these standards do not concern all films that wish to be submitted for selection, but only films that wish to compete for the “best film” category.
In September 2020the Academy announced that films that want to compete in 2024 will have to respect at least two of these four criteria:
– The representation on the screen,
– The teams working on the film,
– Access to the industry and professional opportunities allowed by the production company,
– Diversity within promotion and marketing teams.
Similar criteria in application for several years in the United Kingdom
Each of these criteria can be obtained by fulfilling a specific sub-criterion. For example, to meet the first criterion on on-screen representation, production teams can ensure that “at least one of the main cast members or significant supporting cast members is from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group,” AND/ OR, that “at least 30% of all actors in supporting roles” are from at least two of the underrepresented groups “AND/OR that “the main storyline(s), theme or the film’s narrative centers on one or more underrepresented groups.
Thus, it is not necessary for film teams to respond positively to all of the criteria listed in the text which details these new standards.
As the Academy explains, these criteria are directly inspired by and very similar to those in force since 2016 within the British Film Institute(BFI), the main public film funding body in the United Kingdom. Since 2019, these criteria are also necessary to compete for British Academy Film Awardsequivalent to the French Oscars or Césars.
An online platform for submitting applications
Teams that want to present their production in the “best film” category, and therefore certify that they meet at least two of these inclusiveness criteria, must do so on a online platform.
As the dedicated site indicates, the platform is used to collect “confidential data and information necessary for the implementation of standards. » If the part Frequently Asked Questions of the site encourages teams to “provide as much data as possible”, it also specifies that it is not absolutely necessary to provide information for all standards: “if you do not enter data for a specific standard, you You can go ahead and populate the data for the standards you are providing data for. »
These standards raise questions from several producers, in particular on the fact of collecting information concerning the private lives of their teams, as reported an article of The Hollywood Reporter, American magazine specializing in the cinema industry.
Measures to respond to criticism of lack of diversity
The measures taken by the Academy of Oscars follow movements demanding more diversity among the films and actors awarded, which gained momentum starting in 2015 with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. This hashtag was widely used on social networks to denounce the essentially white casting of actors selected for the main categories.
They are part of a movement “ opening », initiated in 2020 by the Academy, which includes a series of measures aimed at improving the inclusiveness of the competition. These measures include training on bias for the Academy’s Governors, or access to “resource groups” for all its employees, with the aim of “fostering diversity, equity and inclusion on the workplace and beyond.”