Has the Oscars really faced up to its race problem?

Has the Oscars really faced up to its race problem? In 2015, lawyer-turned-activist April Reign took aim at that year's overwhelmingly white Academy Awards nominations with a jokey tweet "#OscarsSoWhite they asked to touch my hair." Progress v setbacks The past five years have certainly seen a broader range of stories and people celebrated: in 2017, there was Moonlight's historic best picture triumph, that of a black, queer love story winning over the much bigger-budget – and whiter – La La Land; and then last year came Parasite's victory in the same category, making it the first ever non-English-language winner. As Lodge puts it, "That only one of this year's best director nominees is a white American man Having met their goal the Academy made a further pledge, that from their 2025 awards onwards, films would be eligible only if they meet two of four self-created diversity "standards", which variously require women, racial and ethnic groups, LGBTQ+ and people with disabilities to be represented in some form in front of or behind the camera or be given some sort of paid training opportunity as part of production. Warner Bros Nine out of the 20 acting nominations at this year’s Oscars have gone to actors of colour; these include Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah There is clearly some way to go: the LGBQTIA+ community remain underrepresented both in front and behind the camera and it remains to be seen if last year's best picture win for a film not in English or this year's multiple nominations of female directors will be a pattern or an anomaly.