Director Anthony Chen, singers Taylor Swift and The Weeknd invited to join Oscars panel
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Singaporean director Anthony Chen has been invited to join the organisation that votes on who gets Oscars.
PHOTO: AFP
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LOS ANGELES – Singaporean director Anthony Chen and music megastars Taylor Swift and The Weeknd are among show-business names invited to join the organisation that votes on who gets Oscars, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said on Wednesday.
Chen, 39, posted the news on Facebook and Instagram, writing: “Woke up to this! Honoured to be in such fine company. Thank you #TheAcademy.”
Other invitees include Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who directed Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022). It won seven Oscars in 2023, including for Best Picture.
The academy said its new crop of members numbers 398 people.
That is about half the figure of recent years’ as the academy scaled back after working to double the number of women and non-white members. The move followed calls to boycott the glitzy Oscars and an angry social media backlash under the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite due to a lack of diversity.
The academy now has more than 10,000 members.
Of the 2023 class, the academy said 40 per cent identify as women, 34 per cent belong to under-represented ethnic and racial communities, and 52 per cent are from 50 countries and territories outside the United States.
Two of Chen’s movies – Ilo Ilo (2013) and Wet Season (2019) – had been submitted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Swift’s song Carolina features in the movie Where The Crawdads Sing (2022), while The Weeknd’s tune Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength) is heard in Avatar: The Way Of Water (2022).
Seen as the apex body of the Hollywood film industry, the academy issues a single round of invitations annually.
Only academy members can vote for Oscar winners. The 2024 Oscars are set to take place on March 10. AFP
