Cinematographers Society Calls Out Academy for Moving Oscar Category to Commercial Break

The president of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) sent a strongly worded letter to the organization’s members on Tuesday, reacting to the news that the award for Best Cinematography, along with three other awards, would not be presented during the Oscars broadcast.

The ASC’s president Kees van Oostrum called The Academy’s move a “most unfortunate decision” and promised to “protest” the decision.

“This decision could be perceived as a separation and division of this creative process, thus minimizing our fundamental creative contributions,” Oostrum said. “We cannot quietly condone this decision without protest.”

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Academy president John Bailey revealed on Monday that Best Cinematography, along with the categories for Film Editing, Live-Action Short and Make-Up and Hairstyling, would not be presented live and instead be awarded during commercial breaks of the Oscars ceremony in an attempt to keep the broadcast to under three hours.

The winners’ speeches will then be “slightly edited” and inserted into the broadcast. The original presentations will be streamed live on Oscar.com and on Academy social channels.

The decision was met with vocal disapproval by past nominees and winners, including one of this year’s nominees, the director of “Roma,” Alfonso Cuarón.

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“In the history of CINEMA, masterpieces have existed without sound, without color, without a story, without actors and without music,” he tweeted. “No one single film has ever existed without CINEMAtography and without editing.”

The plan to move some of the categories off the air has prompted a Twitter hashtag, #PresentAll24, urging the Academy to reconsider.

Read the full statement below:

Dear members of the ASC,

Yesterday afternoon the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced that the Best Cinematography presentation — as well as the awards for Film Editing, Live-Action Short and Make-up and Hair Styling — would not be broadcast live but presented in a delayed and edited version during the televised Oscar ceremony. This decision was apparently made in order to shorten the length of the Academy Awards broadcast.

After receiving many comments on this matter from ASC members, I think I speak for many of them in declaring this a most unfortunate decision. We consider filmmaking to be a collaborative effort where the responsibilities of the director, cinematographer, editor and other crafts often intersect. This decision could be perceived as a separation and division of this creative process, thus minimizing our fundamental creative contributions.

The Academy is an important institution that represents our artistry in the eyes of the world. Since the organization’s inception 91 years ago, the Academy Awards have honored cinematographers’ talent, craft and contributions to the filmmaking process, but we cannot quietly condone this decision without protest.

Kees van Oostrum
ASC President

The Oscars air on ABC on Feb. 24.

Oscar Nominations 2019: Biggest Snubs and Surprises, From Yalitza Aparicio to Mister Rogers (Photos)

Hollywood awards gurus -- like our own beloved Steve Pond -- have gotten Oscar prognostication down almost to a science. But that doesn't mean that the Academy doesn't throw us a curveball every year. Here are the nominations that were the biggest surprises, and the snubs that burned the most.
SNUB: "If Beale Street Could Talk" (Best Picture) -- Barry Jenkins' beautiful adaptation of James Baldwin's novel by the same name did not mesmerize Academy voters. Jenkins did earn a nomination for adapted screenplay, with the film's score and supporting actress Regina King also earning nods but the film was snubbed for Best Picture as only eight of the possible ten nomination slots were used.
Annapurna
SURPRISE: Pawel Pawlikowski, "Cold War" (Best Director) -- The foreign language category will contribute two nominees to the Best Director field, as the Polish Pawlikowski joins Mexican frontrunner Alfonso Cuaron in a field that also includes Adam McKay, Spike Lee, and Yorgos Lanthimos.
Getty Images
SNUB: Bradley Cooper, "A Star Is Born" (Best Director) -- But one person who was considered a contender to earn a nomination for his directorial debut was left off the list, as Bradley Cooper will have to settle for a Best Actor nomination for his work on the third remake of "A Star Is Born."
Getty Images
SURPRISE: Marina De Tavira, "Roma" (Best Supporting Actress) -- De Tavira nabbed a best supporting actress nomination for her role as Sra. Sofía in Alfonso Cuaron's "Roma." The film is beloved by critics and was expected to garner a bounty of nominations, but De Tavira had not been projected to grab one of them for her performance as the weary, neglected matriarch of the family that Yalitza Aparicio's Cleo works for.
Netflix
SNUB: "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" (Best Documentary Feature) -- Morgan Neville's sentimental look back at the life and career of Fred Rogers tugged on the heartstrings of many last summer, and it was thought to be a shoo-in for this year's Oscars. Shockingly, it was left off the final nomination list, with "Of Fathers and Sons" joining category favorites "RBG" and "Free Solo" on the list instead.
Focus Features
SURPRISE: Willem Dafoe, "At Eternity's Gate" (Best Actor) -- Nearly every year, there's a surprise leading performance that sneaks onto the nominations list after being championed by critics on the indie circuit. This year's surprise is Dafoe, earning his fourth Oscar nomination and first for a lead performance as Vincent Van Gogh in the troubled painter's final days.
CBS Films
SNUB: Ethan Hawke, "First Reformed" (Best Actor) -- Paul Schrader earned an Oscar nomination for his screenplay of this breathtaking drama. But despite critical acclaim, Hawke will not get a nod for his gripping performance as a priest wrestling with the existential despair of climate change.
TheWrap
SURPRISE: Yalitza Aparicio, "Roma" (Best Actress) -- Several awards predictors said there was a good chance the "Roma" star could earn a nomination for her powerful performance as Cleo. But it is still a big feat to earn a spot alongside the likes of Lady Gaga and Glenn Close
TheWrap
SNUB: Toni Collette, "Hereditary" (Best Actress) -- When the devastating horror film "Hereditary" hit theaters last summer, Collette's performance as a grief-stricken mother earned her a wave of fans demanding she get Oscar consideration. Sadly, the buzz around her and the film could not keep momentum into awards season.
A24

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”Won’t You Be My Neighbor?“ is out, and Willem Dafoe and Marina De Tavira are in

Hollywood awards gurus -- like our own beloved Steve Pond -- have gotten Oscar prognostication down almost to a science. But that doesn't mean that the Academy doesn't throw us a curveball every year. Here are the nominations that were the biggest surprises, and the snubs that burned the most.

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Oscar Nominations 2019: Biggest Snubs and Surprises, From Yalitza Aparicio to Mister Rogers (Photos)

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