An African-American actor nominated for his portrayal of a Ugandan madman. A best-picture category that includes a movie filmed in Berber, Arabic, Spanish and Japanese (and another shot almost exclusively in Japanese). A Mexican director whose work could win seven awards.
After frequently being dubbed too-white and too-clubby, the Oscars this year enthusiastically embraced diversity: The list of nominees for the 79th Academy Awards, announced yesterday, is the most diverse in its history. Favorites in three of the four acting categories are African-American. Three of the year's most nominated films are the work of Mexican directors. Of the 20 acting nominations, eight were given to actors who are either black, Asian or who hail from Spanish-speaking countries. And, in another form of diversity, three of the five nominees in the best-actress category - including the favorites - are over 50.
"Having almost half the acting nominations go to minority-group members is clearly a sign of change, and an enormously welcome one," says David Sterritt, chairman of the National Society of Film Critics. "There have always been huge amounts of talent in these communities, but most of it was automatically passed over for far too many years."
