Academy Invites Record 928 New Members

Variety reports:

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited a record number of new members, extending invites to 928 people.

The Academy topped last year’s record of 774 new members. It invited 683 members in 2016 and 322 in 2015, which were also record numbers.

The expansion of Academy membership to more than 9,200 stems from an ongoing effort to diversify its ranks following uproar over the lack of African-American nominees in 2015 and 2016, which culminated in 2016’s #OscarsSoWhite controversy. Two weeks after the widely criticized nominations were announced, AMPAS announced a goal to double the number of women and diverse members of the Academy by 2020.

If all the 2018 invitees accept, the overall membership would be 9,226.

Full list of invited members:

Writers
Roy Andersson – “A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence,” “You, the Living”

Robert L. Baird – “Ferdinand,” “Big Hero 6”

Sean Baker* – “The Florida Project,” “Tangerine”

Marco Bellocchio – “Sweet Dreams,” “Dormant Beauty”

Pablo Berger – “Abracadabra,” “Blancanieves”

Chris Bergoch – “The Florida Project,” “Tangerine”

Sabina Berman – “Gloria,” “Backyard”

Thomas Bidegain – “Racer and the Jailbird,” “Les Cowboys”

Roger Bohbot – “White as Snow,” “Lady Chatterley”

Bertrand Bonello – “Nocturama,” “Saint Laurent“

Emmanuel Bourdieu – “A Christmas Tale,” “Poison Friends”

Guillermo Calderón – “Neruda,” “The Club”

Robin Campillo – “BPM (Beats Per Minute),” “Eastern Boys”

Stephen Chbosky – “Wonder,” “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”

Joe Robert Cole – “Black Panther”

Laurie Collyer – “Sunlight Jr.,” “Sherrybaby”

Kelly Fremon Craig – “The Edge of Seventeen,” “Post Grad”

Arnaud Desplechin – “Ismael’s Ghosts,” “A Christmas Tale”

Anita Doron – “The Breadwinner,” “The Lesser Blessed”

Ziad Doueiri* – “The Insult,” “The Attack”

Laura Esquivel – “Like Water for Chocolate,” “Chido Guan, el Tacos de Oro”

Mateo Gil – “Realive,” “Open Your Eyes”

Emily V. Gordon – “The Big Sick”

Michael Green – “Logan,” “Blade Runner 2049”

Alain Guiraudie – “Staying Vertical,” “Stranger by the Lake”

Jason Hall – “Thank You for Your Service,” “American Sniper”

Hong Sang-soo* – “The Day After,” “On the Beach at Night Alone”

Jeong Seo-kyeong – “The Handmaiden,” “Thirst”

Guillaume Laurant – “The Scent of Mandarin,” “Amélie”

Rebecca Lenkiewicz – “Disobedience,” “Ida”

Guy Maddin – “The Forbidden Room,” “Keyhole“

Gonzalo Maza – “A Fantastic Woman,” “Gloria”

Anthony McCarten – “Darkest Hour,” “The Theory of Everything”

Michael McCullers – “The Boss Baby,” “Baby Mama”

Valérie Müller – “Polina,” “Le Monde de Fred”

Kumail Nanjiani* – “The Big Sick”

Oleg Negin – “Loveless,” “Leviathan”

Jonathan Nolan – “The Dark Knight,” “Memento“

Ruben Östlund* – “The Square,” “Force Majeure”

Park Hoon-jung – “The Tiger,” “New World”

Christian Petzold – “Phoenix,” “Jerichow”

Julie Peyr – “Ismael’s Ghosts,” “Four Lovers”

Gibrán Portela – “The Untamed,” “La Jaula de Oro”

Steven Rogers – “I, Tonya,” “Kate & Leopold”

Melissa Rosenberg – “Twilight” series, “Step Up”

J.K. Rowling – “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” “Harry Potter” creator

Alicia Scherson – “Family Life,” “Il Futuro”

Fernando E. Solanas – “A Journey to the Fumigated Towns,” “La Guerra del Fracking”

Sion Sono – “Tokyo Vampire Hotel,” “The Whispering Star”

Béla Tarr* – “The Turin Horse,” “The Man from London”

Vanessa Taylor – “The Shape of Water,” “Divergent”

Joëlle Touma – “The Insult,” “The Attack“

Joachim Trier – “Thelma,” “Louder than Bombs”

Pierre Uytterhoeven – “And Now My Love,” “A Man and a Woman”

Eskil Vogt – “Thelma,” “Louder than Bombs”

Wang Hui Ling – “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Fleeing by Night”

Virgil Williams – “Mudbound”

Yan Geling – “Youth,” “Coming Home”

Chloé Zhao* – “The Rider,” “Songs My Brother Taught Me”

A FANTASTIC WOMAN wins Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards!

From Casarotto:

A MASSIVE congratulations to Sebastian Lelio, who wrote and directed A FANTASTIC WOMAN, and to his co-writer Gonzalo Maza. The film took home the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards on Sunday night, marking Chile’s first ever Academy win. The film’s star, Daniela Vega, also made history by being the first transgender person to present an award at the prestigious event.

A FANTASTIC WOMAN also took home the award for Best International Film at the Spirit Awards the night before!

A FANTASTIC WOMAN nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

From Casarotto:

A HUGE congratulations are in order for Sebastian Lelio and Gonzalo Maza, whose film A FANASTIC WOMAN has been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2018 Academy Awards.

The film, which trails a transgender woman following the death of her much older lover, premiered in the main competition in Berlin 2017 to rave reviews across the board, and won the Silver Bear for best screenplay. It will be released by Sony Picutres classic in the US and Artificial Eye in the UK later this year.

Bertrand Tavernier on French Cinema

“[…] some of the greatest [French] filmmakers –I mean, Becker, Sautet, Renoir, Vigo– are detached* from the plot… At least, from the tyranny of the plot. The characters should be more interesting than the plot. ”

Also, in conversation with Kent Jones in the NYFF:

[*] He actually said ‘distressed’, but we know what he meant.

He really tried

Once there was a time when people really cared for Africa. And even accepted the most bizarre invitations in order to feel they were helping. Like Dylan.

Nobody said it would be easy.

Metacritic: ‘A Fantastic Woman’, best movie of 2017

Everybody loves Marina.

Business Insider published a list of the most critically acclaimed pictures of every year since 2000, according to film critics under the radar of Metacritic. And ‘A Fantastic Woman’ made the cut for this year! The list includes ‘Sideways’ (2004), the first two episodes of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ (2000, 2003), “The Social Network’ (2010), ‘A Separation’ (2011) and most recent darlings as ‘Carol’ (2015) and ‘Moonlight’ (2016). Truly fantastic!