HOLLYWOOD — With the recent revelation that this year’s Oscars broadcast will not include live coverage of numerous craft categories, several organizations have responded. Prior to the live broadcast on March 27th, awards for film editing, production design, sound, makeup and hairstyling, music (original score), documentary short, live-action short and animated short will be presented.
The council of the Association of Motion Picture Sound sent out a reply stating:
“The Association of Motion Picture Sound congratulates all the nominees at this year’s Oscars. Filmmakers in all categories contribute to the impact of any film, so the decision by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to move some categories outside the main event is deeply disappointing. It sends out a signal that these categories are deemed somehow less important, which can only serve to create division in the filmmaking community. All the affected categories will suffer from this insensitive devaluing of their contribution.
“The Best Sound category was created last year by merging into one the two previous awards given for sound, and at that time a pledge was made to keep the best Sound category in the broadcast event. At a time when the AMPS/CAS/MPSE joint credit initiative is starting to gain momentum this undermines the good work done to acknowledge the significant contribution our skilled and creative sound teams continue to make to cinema.
“We feel that sound, film editing, production design or any of the other five categories devalued in this way make no less a contribution than those that are unaffected and we ask The Academy to reconsider this poorly-judged decision.”
The board of directors of the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) also issued a statement:
“We are shocked and troubled by the announcement that the Academy plans to eliminate specific awards from this year's broadcast, including sound. To remove the live presentation of awards for such integral, creative, and artistic disciplines is to misrepresent filmmaking's collaborative process to the world at large. The Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) is immensely proud of our peers in all the affected categories, including the sound community, whose art, creativity, and dedication have garnered them nominations for many awards worldwide, including Oscars.
“It is our sincerest hope that AMPAS reconsiders this relegation and returns these artists to their rightful place of recognition - alongside their fellow filmmakers, live, on the 94th Academy Awards telecast.”
The 94th Academy Awards will be broadcast on ABC on March 27th at 8pm (EST). Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes will serve as co-hosts.