From now on, a film that does not feature LGBTQ people, ethnic minorities or people with disabilities cannot win an Oscar. We are looking forward to some good cinemas...

The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has adopted new rules for next year's Oscars, Variety.com reported The 97th Academy Awards will be held on March 2, 2025 in Los Angeles. From now on, up to three composers can receive an Oscar separately if they all contributed significantly to the score of a film. Previously, the composers working on the film's music could jointly receive an Oscar statuette. In addition, the short list of the original soundtrack category, which will be published at the end of December, may include 20 candidates instead of the previous 15.

The Film Academy will no longer accept a film being screened in a drive-in theater in order to meet the screening requirements for entry. The drive-in cinema option was accepted even during the coronavirus epidemic, when films presented on streaming and VOD platforms could also apply.

Works applying for the Best Picture Oscar must meet the expanded cinema distribution requirements introduced in 2023. Among these are that the film must be screened in at least one of six designated US theater markets for one week, and within 45 days of its first release, it must be shown for seven days, consecutively or non-consecutively, in ten of America's top fifty theater markets.

In addition, only films that meet at least two of the four representation and inclusion standards (Representation and Inclusion Standards Entry) established by the Film Academy can apply for the main prize.

The wording in Bikkfa language actually means that from now on, only a work can apply for the title of best film that fulfills at least two of the four required inclusion rules, that is, it represents the so-called "underrepresented groups" with sufficient weight.

These are the following:

• women

• ethnic minorities

• LGBTQ+

• people with mental or physical disabilities, deaf or hard of hearing people.

Although the rules are quite broad, since they can be fulfilled in many ways, from the subject of the film, the identity of the creators, to the internship program paid by the production to marketing activities, it is telling, to say the least, that this had to be included in the rules at all.

Animated films can also compete for the Oscar in the best international film category,

provided that the entry requirements for both categories are met. There have also been changes to the governor's fees. The Irving G. Thalberg Award, which recognizes creative producers, will now also be an Oscar statue instead of the previous Thalberg statue. The definition of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award was refined.

Two of the Academy's scientific and technical awards have received new names: the Gordon E. Sawyer Award will be called the Scientific and Technical Lifetime Achievement Award, and the John A. Bonner Award will be called the Scientific and Technical Service Award.

MTI

Featured image: filmthreat.com