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The move in recent years to truly make the Oscars a global event in terms of the membership drive by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has paid off particularly well this year with a record breaking 93 countries and eligible voters therein submitting ballots in the nominating round which ended on Tuesday at 5:00pm PT.
That number is up significantly from last year’s 79 countries participating.
Academy President Janet Yang and CEO Bill Kramer shared the news with members in an email today while further encouraging them to tune into the nomination announcement on January 23 at 5:30AM PT/8:30AM ET, and also to make a major effort to see all the nominated films before final balloting begins on February 22.
They did not provide statistics of actual voter turnout overall or whether that broke any records, just the number of countries.
What this strong international showing means for the eventual nominees will become apparent next week when the nominations are revealed, but there is strong speculation that among the 10 Best Picture nominees there could be a rarity with at least 2 foreign language productions, NEON’s Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner, Anatomy Of A Fall , and A24’s Cannes Grand Prix winner, The Zone Of Interest. The latter is also expected to have a spot for Best International Film, while the former was passed over by France which submitted another Cannes winner , The Taste Of Things instead. As in recent years the Oscar Best Director race is also expected to perhaps have one spot for a filmmaker from the international community. Recent examples have been South Korea’s Bong Joon-ho, Denmark’s Thomas Vinterberg, Sweden’s Ruben Ostlund, Japan’s Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Poland’s Pawel Pawlikowski, Mexico’s Alfonso Cuaron and others reflecting the global tastes of the ever-evolving Academy.
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Below is the text of the email:
Dear Academy Members,
Thank you for voting for this year’s Oscar nominations!
With your participation, ballots were submitted from a record-breaking 93 countries. The nominations reflect the tireless work and incredible dedication of so many Academy members, Academy staff, and others within our global film community
The nominees in all 23 award categories will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, at 5:30am PT/8:30am ET. You can watch the announcement live on Good Morning America, Oscars.org, Oscar.com, and the Academy’s digital platforms. We hope you will join us.
As a reminder, finals voting begins on Thursday, February 22. It is so important to our filmmakers that you watch all films in contention before you vote. We hope you will continue to visit your local theaters, attend our Academy Membership Screenings and access our Academy Screening Room to watch the nominated films
Thank you, again, for your devotion and commitment to the Academy and to our film community. We look forward to celebrating with you on March 10!
All our best,
Bill Kramer & Janet Yang
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