A couple metformin weight loss clomid months ago I attended a screening at the LA Film School of this past year’s Best Foreign Film Oscar Winner, The Secret In Their Eyes. It was hosted by Jeff Goldsmith of Creative Screenwriting magazine and the great CS podcast. There was a Q&A afterwards with co-writer/director Juan José Campanella and, in regards to the Oscars, Jeff asked him if there was any campaigning that went along with it. Campanella said that there is no campaigning because the Foreign Film and Documentary categories work differently than Best Picture, in that only Academy members who have seen every film nominated in the category are permitted to vote. No screeners. No politics. You simply must attend a scheduled Academy screening of each film and register.
This basically blew my mind. You mean to tell me there’s logical thinking involved in certain categories of the Oscars? I couldn’t believe what he said. I read through the rules on Oscars.org, and under Foreign Film voting (14-IV-B/C) it states (Note: I did not Bold the text, that’s the Academy’s doing):
“voting…restricted to active and life Academy members who have attended Academy screenings, or other exhibition, of all five motion pictures nominated for the award…Viewing Foreign Language Film entries on videocassette or DVD will NOT qualify a member for voting purposes in this category.“
They’re even holding on to what sanctity remains in seeing a film in theatres! So what are the criteria for the Best Picture nominees? Which, in a twist of illogical thinking, are very likely to be available for viewing in a public theatre near you, in addition to the frequent guild/Academy screenings the studios hold for self promotion. Here’s Rule 17, Article 4:
Final voting for the Best Picture award shall be restricted to active and life Academy members.
Apparently, that’s all they have to say on the matter. No restrictions. No requirements. You could feasibly have not seen a single one of the Best Picture nominees, yet have the right to vote anyway. Meanwhile, some Foreign Film nominees have not even been released in the US yet and are completely unavailable for public viewing, which was exactly the case with recent winner, The Secret in Their Eyes, from Argentina.
So what is left to the Best Picture voting? Well, it seems to all be based on how strongly the respective studios campaign, how many screeners they send out, and, as is the case with sports and the biggest factor of all — momentum. Which, ironically, should have cancelled out The Hurt Locker (THL) as a contender from the beginning. It was released outside of the sacred Oscar season in early summer, made very little money, and only garnered critical review. I’m not writing this to bash on THL, nor am I trying to make a statement that king of the box office every year should win Best Picture. I actually saw THL during it’s initial release in theatres and I’ve seen it once or twice since, I can’t remember. It’s a very good film. But going into “Oscar season” (September/October through December), it had been forgotten to an extent and seemed as though whatever buzz it had left was fading. Up In The Air was steamrolling with buzz from the Toronto International Film Festival as the best picture of the year, and as late as December 3, 2009, won Best Picture from the National Board of Review. It continued to win other critics awards through December and even January, but somewhere along the line, somehow, THL turned into a juggernaut.
I’ve got a theory. It’s possibly wrong, and in the end it’s just an opinion anyway. But, campaigning aside, I believe that the positive reaction and overwhelming love that came out of the release of Avatar actually turned the Oscar debate into a news story of James Cameron vs. ex-wife, and THL director, Kathryn Bigelow. Remember, everything is about ratings, great gossip, and a buzz-worthy news angle. What better than an Oscar night showdown of a former husband and wife? Especially when that husband is the King of the box office world and can already lay claim to nearly every Oscar possible. Added to that, to make the story even more rich and compelling, and juicier than ever, Bigelow, if she won, would become the first female to ever win Best Director in a male dominated world. This story was almost too good to be true. Everything about Oscar season was balancing in Bigelow and THL‘s favor. They were the underdogs of all underdogs. Feminism trying to break into an alpha-male world. What was supposed to be a showdown on Oscar night quickly became as predictable as the popularly-maligned plot of Avatar.
My point is this: I wish I didn’t have to write that entire last paragraph. I believe that, if the Best Picture category followed the rules of Best Foreign Film and Best Documentary, these things would never become a topic of discussion or a means to measure the candidates by. No campaigning. No bullshit. Honest and true democracy. The American Dream. How great would that be? Is it a pipe dream? It’s the freaking Oscars, not the Presidential election. It doesn’t take the Senate and House of Congress to pass a rule change. This is easy to do. Get it done and stop giving out awards to people who are undeserving. I want a fair vote, from voters who’ve earned the right to vote, and I want to see the results on Oscar night. Am I wrong?
