Lack of racial diversity fuels Oscar buzz

It is now under fire again for a lack of diversity for the 88th Academy Awards, with all white nominees in the acting categories and male nominees for best director. “Boyhood” won for Best Picture-Drama at the Globes but Inarritu’s own film “Birdman” won the top spot at the Oscars. Co-star Tom Hardy, on the other hand, is looking at his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Among the foreign films nominated were Hungarian Holocaust drama “Son of Saul”, Jordan’s “Theeb, Colombia’s “Embrace of the Serpent” and “Mustang”, a French production about five Turkish sisters living in subjugation”.

The #OscarsSoWhite hashtag began to trend shortly after the nominees were announced, with notable movies like Straight Outta Compton and Concussion being notably absent.

All 20 nominations in four acting categories were filled by white actors for the second year in a row.

Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs is just as disappointed as we are about the lack of diversity in this year’s Oscar nominations. One could easily see the Academy handing the award to any of the competitor’s fellow nominees, including Matt Damon, who starred in The Martian, or Steve Jobs’ Michael Fassbender.

In the best actress category, previous Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Lawrence return to the race this year.

A version of this article appears in print on January 15, 2016 of The Himalayan Times.

The Titanic star added, “It’s not often that films like this even get made, but the fact that it’s gotten recognised means they are going to get to do more like it, so that’s encouraging”. “I’m proud to be opposite him in that film because I think it’s an extraordinary performance”.

Sylvester Stallone, enjoying a new wave of popularity, scored a supporting actor nod for reprising his career-defining role as boxer Rocky Balboa in “Creed”.

He said: “It’s interesting, to make movies, it always takes me 10 years to reflect on whether a movie’s good, bad or awful – because you’re so immersed in the moment, you’re sort of clouded by the experience you had, you never get that reflection”.

Besides Inarritu and Miller, others competing for the Best Director trophy include Tom McCarthy for “Spotlight”, Adam McKay for “The Big Short” and Lenny Abrahamson for “Room”.