Oscars awards body acts to boost diversity

IANS  |  Los Angeles 

The group behind the prestigious film awards has invited 928 artists and executives to join the body - almost half of whom are women.

The move is part of a plan to double the number of women and ethnic minorities in the Academy by 2020.

The recent #OscarsSoWhite and #MeToo movements criticised the body for its overwhelmingly white male membership.

Among those invited to join the Academy as part of its push to become more diverse are female cinematographers from and

Other women stars on the list include US actors Jada Pinkett Smith, Amy Schumer, and Christine Baranski, and the comedians and

Listed notable male stars include African-American Dave Chappelle, Oscar-nominated and French-American Timothee Chalamet, who starred in the film

If all 928 of the Academy's invitations are accepted, female membership will rise to 31 per cent from 28 per cent, while ethnic minority members will increase to 16 per cent from 13 per cent, according to the academy.

It would also raise the number of voting participants for film awards to a new high of about 9,300 people, reports.

Hollywood's awards seasons have been marked by controversy with the #MeToo campaign, which exposed and raised awareness of sexual harassment, and the #OscarsSoWhite movement.

In 2016, actors including Marvel star said they were inspired to join the Academy because of the strength of the #OscarsSoWhite diversity campaign, which began with a tweet by activist

"I felt obligated to join," said Boseman, who plays superhero in the Marvel films.

Wilson said at the time that it was right to join because the Academy was now "open to hearing what the issues were".

--IANS

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First Published: Tue, June 26 2018. 07:52 IST