All together

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has invited 842 members from 59 countries to the Oscars organisation and, for the first time, reached gender parity in its new class of inductees. The Academy invited 842 people from the film industry to join its ranks with 421 of the invites sent to women. 

Half of the new invitees to the film academy are women. In 10 of the 17 branches, including directing, writing and producing branches — more women than men were invited. 

This year’s class of new members also includes 29 per cent people of colour. That’s a notable turnaround for an organisation that has sought to diversity its ranks following criticism for all-white acting nominees in 2015 and 2016. Since 2015, the group’s overall female membership has grown from 25 to 35 per cent. Overall membership of people of colour too has doubled, from 8 to 16 per cent.

To aid in the swift overhaul of the Academy, the group last year invited a record 928 members. While smaller, this year’s class still ranks as one of the Academy’s largest in its 92-year history.

New invitees include Lady Gaga, Sterling K Brown, Claire Foy, Letitia Wright, Tom Holland and Adele. Newly invited directors include Crazy Rich Asians filmmaker Jon Chu, The Babadook director Jennifer Kent and the filmmaking duo of Phil Lord and Chris Miller. If most accept their invites, the Academy will number more than 9,000 members.

Netizens have appreciated this move by the Academy and many of them took to Twitter to laud the decision. Not just regular people are happy but celebrities too are  delighted to receive their invites. People have pointed out that the change is a direct result of the viral movement #OscarsSoWhite.

Next year’s Academy Awards will be held on February 9, several weeks earlier than usual.