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- BBC News World
image source, Archyde.com
The Oscars want to be renewed to stop the drop in the number of spectators that have followed the Hollywood Academy Awards in recent years.
In the era of social networks and immediacy, a few days ago the Academy announced changes to try to make the awards ceremony more agile, which sometimes exceeds 4 hours.
Thus, it was decided that several awards of the 23 that will be awarded at the 94th edition of the Oscars on March 27, do not show uparan at the gala broadcast live on television, but in a previous ceremony, whose content will later be edited and can be seen summarized during the live broadcast.
The prizes that will be awarded beforehand at the televised gala will be 8: those of Best Documentary Short Film, Editing, Makeup & Hairstyling, Original Music, Production Design, Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, and Sound.
The ceremony will begin an hour before the live broadcast begins to accommodate the changes and from the Academy they assure that the winners of those 8 Oscars will have the same time to give their acceptance speeches as the other winners and they will do so in the Dolby theater in front of the gala guests.
Last year’s ceremony was the least watched in US awards history, with 9.23 million viewers, a 51% drop from the 18.69 million viewers who watched the Oscars last year. previous.
In 2019, the Hollywood Academy caused outrage when it announced that several awards would be presented during commercial breaks, forcing it to cancel its plans.
“Find a Balance”
image source, Archyde.com
Kirsten Dunst, Jane Campion and Benedict Cumberbatch are nominated for “The Power of the Dog.”
“We realize that these types of changes may raise concerns about fairness, and we ask for your understanding that our goal has been to find a balance where nominees, winners, members and the audience have a rewarding experience with the program”, the president of the Academy, David Rubin, wrote a few days ago in an email announcing the modifications for the 2022 ceremony.
“Going forward, we will evaluate this change and continue to look for additional ways to make our show more entertaining and more exciting for everyone involved, inside the Dolby Theater and viewing from home,” Rubin said.
The president of the Academy believes that this change will make the gala more agile and entertaining, which this year will be presented by comedians Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer y Regina Hall.
But, according to Variety magazine, the news has not gone down well in the guilds of the awards that will not be delivered live during the ceremony, something they point out was “predictable” given the reaction to the 2019 plans.
“We are deeply disappointed in the Academy’s decision to alter the way certain categories, including film editing, will be presented on the Oscars broadcast,” the Board of Directors of American Film Editors said in a statement earlier this week. .
“It sends a message that some creative disciplines are more vital than others. Nothing could be further from the truth and everyone who makes movies knows that.”
Members of other disciplines also expressed their disappointment to specialized media, although they did not want to reveal their identity so as not to confront the Academy before the awards ceremony.
The one who did disagree was Mexican director Guillermo del Torowhose film “Nightmare alley” is nominated for several awards.
During his acceptance speech for the Hollywood Critics Association’s Cinematic Achievement Award on Tuesday, del Toro said: “The nominees that we have here, most of the nominees that we have here tonight, (worked) against many, many odds. And we don’t make (films) alone. We make them together, and the people who made them with us did it risking everything in a pandemic, showing up, making the day, a little bit of a miracle.”
“I have to say that if any year was the year to think about it, this is not the year to not hear their names live at the Oscars. This is the year to say them and say them loud,” he added. “We shouldn’t do it this year, we shouldn’t ever do it, but not this year… And we have to say this… 2021 was a great year for movies.”
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