Diaz, Mendoza invited to join US film academy

Award-winning directors Lav Diaz and Brillante Ma. Mendoza are among the 774 international film artists and executives invited to become members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas), the American film organization that holds the Academy Awards, it was learned last week. 

In a statement dated June 28, 2017, the Ampas said it invited these filmmakers “who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motions pictures.”

“Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2017,” it added.

The organization also said 30 people, including Diaz, “have been invited to join the Academy by multiple branches,” and added that each of them “must select one branch” to join “upon accepting membership.”

The academy’s directors’ and writers’ branches both invited Diaz, while Mendoza was only invited by the former group.

One of Diaz’s films, Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan, was selected by the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP)—the local counterpart of the Ampas—as the country’s official submission to the Oscars’ foreign-language-film category in 2014, while Mendoza’s most recent film, the Cannes prize-winning Ma’ Rosa, was chosen as the official entry to that category last year.

Both failed to make it to the list of finalists.

Diaz’s other features include Batang West Side; Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon, which received the Golden Leopard award for best film at the 2014 Locarno International Film Festival; Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis, which won the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer prize at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival; and Ang Babaeng Humayo, which earned the Golden Lion at last year’s Venice International Film Festival.

Besides Ma’ Rosa, Mendoza’s other films include Foster Child; Kinatay, which won him the best director award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival; and the Nora Aunor starrers Thy Womb and Taklub.

Other directors who were also invited include Oscar-winner Barry Jenkins (Moonlight); fashion designer-turned-filmmaker Tom Ford (Nocturnal Animals); Oscar nominees Theodore Melfi (Hidden Figures) and Tran Anh Hung (The Scent of Green Papaya); and Jordan Peele (Get Out).

Among the invited actors are box-office stars Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Dwayne Johnson (Moana), Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy) Kristen Stewart (Twilight), and Channing Tatum (Magic Mike); Chinese performers Maggie Cheung (In the Mood for Love), Tony Leung (The Grandmaster), and Donnie Yen (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story); Indian actors Amitabh Bachchan (The Great Gatsby), Prinyaka Chopra (Baywatch), and Irrfan Khan (Slumdog Millionaire); and recent Oscar nominees Naomie Harris (Moonlight), Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea), Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic), and Ruth Negga (Loving).

The latest batch of invited film practitioners reflects the continued efforts of the Ampas and Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs to increase cultural and racial diversity in the organization’s ranks, as well as boost the number of its female members.

“We’re proud to invite our newest class to the Academy. The entire motion picture community is what we make of it. It’s up to all of us to ensure that new faces and voices are seen and heard, and to take a shot on the next generation the way someone took a shot on each of us,” Isaacs said on the Ampas website. ALVIN I. DACANAY