The UK’s Oscar-winning Promising Young Woman filmmaker Emerald Fennell and One Night In Miami star Kingsley Ben-Adir and Bulgarian Borat 2 breakout Maria Bakalova are among a new class of 395 talent and executives invited to join the Academy.
The new intake announced on Thursday (July 1) comprises 46% women, 39% from underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and more than half (53%) of invitees hailing from 49 countries outside the US.
Besides Promising Young Woman writer-director Fennell and Ben-Adir, UK talent includes the upcoming star of The Batman, Robert Pattinson, as well as Borat 2 writer and regular Steve Coogan collaborator Peter Baynham, Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville, Vanessa Kirby from Pieces Of A Woman, Under The Skin director Jonathan Glazer, and producer Nadine Marsh-Edwards (Bhaji On The Beach).
From the executive fold, newly promoted co-head of Searchlight Pictures film production Katie Goodson-Thomas is invited.
Non-UK international filmmaker invitees include Goalpost Pictures founder Rosemary Blight from Australia (The Sapphires), Brazilian producer Fabiano Gullane (The Traitor), producer Shobha Kapoor from India (Udta Punjab), The Father writer-director Florian Zeller and producer Philippe Carcassonne from France, New Zealand filmmaker Ainsley Gardiner (Boy), and German Collective director Alexander Nanau.
On-screen invitees include South Korean actors Yuh-jung Youn and Ye-ri Han (Minari), and Wagner Moura from Brazil (Elite Squad).
Among the American intake are Andra Day from The United States vs. Billie Holiday, South Korean-born Minari star Steven Yeun and director Lee Isaac Chung, Zola director Janicza Bravo, Paul Raci from Sound Of Metal, Martha Marcy May Marlene director Sean Durkin, The Dissident director Bryan Fogel, and Shaka King, director of Judas And The Black Messiah.
Executives include Apple TV co-heads of worldwide video Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, Amazon Studios global awards strategist Lorenza Muñoz, Disney CEO Bob Chapek, Wendy Lidell of Kino Lorber, and Darlene Caamaño Loquet, SVP of Nickelodeon Movies.
Among those invited to be members at larger are TIFF artistic director and co-head Cameron Bailey, New York Film Festival director Eugene Hernandez, and stuntwoman Jennifer Jo Caputo.
Membership selection decisions were made under the auspices of the organisation’s Academy Aperture 2025 commitment to greater inclusivity.
The Academy previously said starting with today’s intake it will limit the number of invitees to roughly half that of recent years to enable sustainable membership growth.
No comments yet