2024-03-10 02:55:54
CNN (Hollywood) — It’s a concept I’ve been thinking regarding in recent days, just as we approach the final goal of a long race for the coveted golden statuette: the globalization of the Oscar.
The Oscar ceremony, according to the Hollywood Academy, is broadcast to more than 200 countries and to a number of viewers estimated in the hundreds of millions. These are figures that tend to be repeated year following year, although not so much at the domestic level, where this television show reached more than 40 million viewers in the United States, a decade ago. Today that figure barely reaches half.
And it is due to its international appeal, far above that of any prestigious European festival or the awards of other academies in the world, that the Oscar continues to be the great reference for cinema worldwide. I say global, although we know that with it, what is mainly exalted here is the product Made in Hollywood.
However, in recent years, that country brand has been diluted a bit and in 2020, for the first time in its history, the Hollywood Academy awarded its main award for best film of the year to an international production not spoken in English: “Parasite”, from South Korea.
In 2024, the opening is still noticeable. In the list of the 10 candidates for best film of the year we find not one but two international productions (previously called foreign), officially defined as works produced outside the United States and whose dialogue is mostly different from English.
The first is “Anatomy of a Fall” (Anatomy of a fall), which despite its French origin, was not the one that that country sent as its candidate for best international film, but having managed to enter the main category, it also appears in the races for lead actress, editing or editing, original script and direction, the latter two for Justine Triet.
Another international film that has accumulated five nominations is “The Zone of Interest” (The area of interest), which represents Great Britain and Poland also participated in its production. The film tells a German story (the Holocaust) and is spoken mainly in German.
This globalization points to several aspects and the examples mentioned make me believe that in the future we will see even more international participation among the nominees for the main categories.
It is a trend that is not coincidental. It responds, in part, to the fact that in recent years the Hollywood Academy has made a great effort at inclusion and diversification, inviting professionals from around the world to be part of its ranks, allowing them the right to vote and that they, with their own sensibility, look towards cinematography different from the American one.
It would be impossible to prove it, because the vote is secret, but perhaps that openness allowed the German actress Sandra Hüller to qualify this year in the category of best leading actress (for “Anatomy of a Fall”, also being the protagonist in “The Zone of Interest” ) and a local like Natalie Portman or the quintessential box office star Margot Robbie were not favored.
The majority of Academy voters were previously described as a homogeneous group of older men. Therefore, it was easy to guess his preferences. But now, when the number of voters reaches 9,341 and representing various nationalities, predicting winners becomes somewhat complicated.
Another reason why the Oscar is more global than ever has to do with streaming; Yes, those platforms that Hollywood considered for so long as the great enemy.
I remember when friends on social media expressed their frustration at not knowing if the nominated or winning films would ever hit the local theaters.
“Oppenheimer”, which I consider a work to be seen only on a giant screen, is now available on streaming, being a production supported by a traditional studio (Universal).
On the other hand, Netflix surpasses this year, in accumulation of nominations, any other platform and even the old studios. There were 18 mentions distributed among his films “Maestro”, “The Snow Society”, “Nyad”, etc.
Then the excuse that some had for not seeing the ceremony disappears: “It’s just that those films haven’t reached my country.” The globalization of the Oscar takes away all validity.
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