The Atlantic

Unraveling the Oscars’ Foreign-Language-Film Debate

The newly rebranded Best International Film award calls attention to how unfair the Academy’s rules are for filmmakers outside the U.S. and Europe.
Source: Netflix / Everett Collection

Last year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences welcomed into its ranks a record 928 new voters, many of whom were women, people of color, and members younger than the institution’s average. The move was part of a to the #OscarsSoWhite campaign from a couple of years prior that called attention to the glaring lack of racial diversity among the awards’ nominees. In another bid for relevance last year, the Academy , before reversing the decision after a public outcry. Now, a year later, the Academy is undercutting its various inclusion initiatives with quick fixes that only highlight how entrenched its biases are.

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