Home » News » From Shabana Azmi to SS Rajamouli, Academy welcomes 487 new members, including Indian film fraternity
From Shabana Azmi to SS Rajamouli, Academy welcomes 487 new members, including Indian film fraternity
The Academy has invited 487 new members, including Indian artists and Oscar winners, among the honorees.
Jun 26, 2024
Shabana Azmi; SS Rajamouli and Rama Rajamouli invited by Academy
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the invitation of 487 artists and entertainment executives to become members. Indian artists include Shabana Azmi, Ravi Varman, SS Rajamouli, and Ritesh Sidhwani, among others. Moreover, the Hollywood artists featured in the list were Lily Gladstone, who starred in Killers of the Flower Moon; Catherine O'Hara; Fiona Shaw; Jessica Alba; and filmmaker Celine Song who directed Past Lives.
Oscar nominees and winners
Among the invitees this year are 71 Oscar nominees and 19 additional winners, including numerous winners from 2024, such as Da'Vine Joy Randolph of The Holdovers Cord Jefferson of American Fiction, Justine Triet of Anatomy of a Fall, Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, and co-writer Arthur Harari.
Holly Waddington, whose costumes featured in the Oscar-winning film Poor Things and Rama Rajamouli, who designed costumes for RRR, were notable additions in the realm of craftsmanship. They also named Mandy Moore, known for choreographing dance sequences in La La Land and Taylor Swift's Eras tour, and Prem Rakshith, responsible for RRR's renowned Naatu Naatu sequence.
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Indian film fraternity representation
Look at this roster of Indian names: actor Shabana Azmi, cinematographer Ravi Varman, costume designers Rama Rajamouli and Sheetal Sharma, directors Rima Das, SS Rajamouli, and Anand Kumar Tucker, documentary filmmakers Nisha Pahuja and Hemal Trivedi, producer Ritesh Sidhwani, and choreographer Prem Rakshith.
This year's new Oscar Academy member list prominently represents the Indian film fraternity, as it does every year, according to Oscar member Ujwal Nirgudkar to ETimes. Among the many names on the list are seasoned actress Shabana Azmi, filmmaker SS Rajamouli, and producer Ritesh Sidhwani.
Membership and voting rights
In 2025, there will be the 97th Academy Awards, and if all invitees accept, the membership will reach 10,910. Of that number, 9,934 will have the right to vote.
In recent years, the Academy has sought to diversify its membership. The Academy rationalised this decision to enable steady future growth and ensure the necessary infrastructure, staff resources, and environment to support all Academy members. Since then, the number of invitees has stabilised at around 400 per year, down from 819 in 2020.
Class of 2024 diversity statistics
According to the Academy, this year's class had 44% women, up 4% from last year, and 41% from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, up 7% from last year. Of the invitees, 56 (or 56% of the total) came from non-US countries and territories.
According to the 2024 class, 35% of Academy members are women, 20% are members of historically underrepresented racial or ethnic groups, and 20% are citizens of non-US countries or territories.
Academy president Janet Yang and CEO Bill Kramer accompanied the 2024 invites with a joint statement, expressing their delight at welcoming the new class of members. The work of these exceptionally gifted artists and professionals from all corners of the globe has had a profound impact on their filmmaking community.
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