In some ways, tomorrow night's
academy awards mark big advances
in diversity.
Four of this year's acting
nominees are of Asian descent,
the most ever.
Last year or more top movies
started women of color than in
the previous 16 years.
But there are still notable gaps
particularly for women behind
the camera.
None of the best director
nominees is a woman and only one
of the films up for best was
directed by a woman and there
were no nominations in any
category for films with both
black female leads and
directors.
The university of southern
California found that in oscars
95 year history, only 17% of
nominees have been women and
fewer than 2% have been women of
color.
Only 9% of the directors of last
year's top 100 earning films
were women and less than 3% were
women of color.
Jeff brown spoke with Rebecca,
who reports on diversity for the
Hollywood reporter.
>> Thanks for joining us.
I want to start with the
question of women behind the
camera.
Directors, writers, other
important roles.
You have looked at this over
time.
General terms first when you
look at this Oscar season, what
do you see?
>> Something that's played out
in years past which is we are
now getting films in the larger
conversation that are considered
awards caliber directed by
women, but it's still very
difficult for them to make it
into the final five cut at the
academy awards and so this
happened again, Oscar's so male
at least the directing category,
even though people can now name
specific women that would be
considered snopes.
>> This comes after a few years
of successes for women,
certainly in the director
category.
>> Yes, absolutely.
This is relative success.
Certainly the fact that we've
had Greta Gerwig in the
conversation, Chloe chow, Jane
campion winning best directing
oscars, its light years from how
it was simply a decade ago.
I think there is such a
difference between a trend and
sustainable change.
As long as we are still at a
precarious point where
year-to-year the fortunes of
women can swing from two in a
race to zero in a race, you are
not solidly achieving a pipeline
of systemic equity.
We don't worry year-to-year if
any man will make it into the
race.
That is literally a question
that nobody has asked.
But that's still a question for
women.
Will any women make it into the
race this year as long as that
question still exists and is a
realistic one, we haven't really
achieved systemic change yet.
>> Another thing you have long
looked at is Asian and Asian
American actors.
It's a notably big year in that
regard.
How big a sign of change would
this be?
>> Things began to change after
parasite in 2019 won basically
every Oscar that it was
nominated for, but it was not
nominated in a single individual
acting category and that sort of
emphasized a trend that we had
seen in years past where films
with predominantly Asian castes
like the last emperor or
crouching tiger hidden dragon
would be very acclaimed across
the board but received no
recognition for its individual
actors.
This year's oscars is a record
high with four Asian at verse
across the board being
nominated.
So that is very significant from
the past, but it's significant
because it was so minimal to
nonexistent before.
>> And criticism from people in
Hollywood of color continues.
One notable critique, the
director of the woman king.
>> Absolutely, it's notable
because we are no longer in a
media ecosystem where there
aren't worthy performances,
where there aren't awards
caliber films about and made by
black people and this year black
women in particular, movies
about black people particularly
when they are about and by black
women are sort of seen as
specialty films.
They are seen as films that are
not for a quote unquote general
audience.
They sometimes might be seen as
homework or obligatory.
Movies about lack women are
still painted with an asterisk
and perhaps that affected its
chances at the oscars.
>> We all pay special attention
at this moment in Oscar's season
, but really the issue is about
the pipeline that feeds into the
movies that get made and even
have a chance.
>> Absolutely.
In the pipeline is something
that there are people in the
industry that have been working
on it for a very long time.
I think you are seeing those
dividends begin to pay off in
terms of form -- more women
getting shots at studio movies,
movies and different genres than
just romantic comedies and small
domestic films.
Awards season is always the very
tail end of that pipeline.
It's one thing to get your movie
green lit, released and
distributed and marketed, and
then to be recognized is that
final piece.
Progress is slow, as was
expected, but that pipeline is
being built.
>> With all the attention on the
Oscar films, this is a good
chance to tell our audience
about some films that you love
that you wish more people got to
see that didn't get the acclaim
or the attention.
>> One film was so small that I
understand why not a lot of
people saw it, but after her
son.
It's a first feature from a
female director about a young
girl who goes on a vacation with
her father.
And sort of tries to learn a
little bit more about what his
interior or in retrospect is
learning more about what his
interior life was like.
It's heavily implied that
vacation is the last time she
ever saw him.
I also really liked till, the
aftermath of the lynching of
Emmett till.
The way in which it's treated as
really different from how I feel
filmmakers have traditionally
treated stories about brutality
against black people.
It's very conscientious in what
it chooses to show and what it
chooses not to show.
And in so doing conveys a very
powerful message about the
significance of the image,
especially when it comes to how
we depict racialized violence.
I just thought it was a really
instructive movie.
Not as exploitative Lee
traumatic as some feared it
would be.