The Academy of Motion Pictures and Arts announced their fresh list of 398 new members joining them this year. And guess what Among international stars such as Taylor Swift and Ke Huy Qwan, several Indian names also made it to the list. Indian film celebrities Ram Charan, Mani Ratnam, NT Rama Rao Jr, Karan Johar, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Chandrabose and MM Keeravani have been invited by the organisation to be members. 'RRR' art director Sabu Cyril and cinematographer K.K. Senthil Kumar are also a part of the list.
"The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership. They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines, and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide," said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang.
Also on the list are Bela Bajaria (executive, Netflix), Rafiq Bhatia (music, Everything Everywhere All At Once), Andrij Parekh (cinematographer, The Zookeeper's Wife), Shivani Pandya Malhotra (executive, Red Sea Film), Shivani Rawat (executive, ShivHans Pictures), Girish Balakrishnan (production and technology), Kranti Sarma (production and technology), Haresh Hingorani (visual effects, Laal Singh Chaddha, Zero), P.C. Sanath (visual effects, 5 Rupees, Baahubali: The Beginning) among the 398 artists and executives invited to join the membership of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
More about the new members
If all of this year's invitees accept membership, it will bring the total number of overall Academy members to 10,817 (up from 10,665 last year), with 9,375 eligible to vote (a decrease from 9,665 due to deaths, retirements and moving to emeritus status) for the 96th Oscars, set to take place on March 10, 2024. The 2023 class is 40 per cent women. 34 per cent belong to underrepresented ethnic/racial communities and 52 per cent hail from 51 countries and territories outside the United States.
Other interesting statistics about this invitee class are four branches invited more women than men to join -- casting directors, costume designers, makeup artists and hairstylists and marketing and public relations. The Actors and Directors branches had most of their candidates hail from underrepresented ethnic and racial communities.
Eight filmmakers have been invited to multiple branches -- Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Colm Bairead (The Quiet Girl), Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front), Antonio Campos (The Devil All the Time), Lukas Dhont (Close), Ana Katz (The Dog Who Wouldn't be Quiet) and Santiago Mitre (Argentina, 1985); however, they can only select one upon accepting membership.
In 2022, the Oscars invited 397 new members, including singer Billie Eilish, Oscar winner Ariana DeBose, "Belfast" stars Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan and Disney exec Dana Walden. With the addition of this new member class, the Academy is now 34 per cent women, 18 per cent from underrepresented communities and 20 per cent from outside the U.S. This year's slate of awards contenders will have massive star power and legendary filmmakers in the mix such as Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon" with Leonardo DiCaprio and Denis Villeneuve's "Dune Part Two" with Zendaya and Timothee Chalamet.
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