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Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Invites Rinko Kikuchi, Takashi Miike, Eric Beckman

posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Actor Hiroyuki Sanada, more also invited

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its list of membership invitations on June 28. The list includes 774 invitations, the largest number of invitations in the Academy's history. The invitations are part of a series of new membership rules to promote diversity in the Academy's ranks, after last year's nominations led to a backlash against the perceived lack of diversity among nominees. The Academy initiated the changes in January 2016, with the intent to radically diversify its membership by the year 2020.

The Academy extended invitations to the following people involved with Japanese content:

Michael Dudok de Wit, Studio Ghibli, and Wild Bunch's The Red Turtle animated film earned a nomination for the Animated Feature Film category this year, although Zootopia won the award.

The Academy invited 13 Japanese creatives as part of the same initiative last year. People invited include Hiromasa Yonebayashi (The Secret World of Arrietty, When Marnie Was There director), Yoshiaki Nishimura (The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, When Marnie Was There producer), and Beat Takeshi (Battle Royale's Kitano, live-action Ghost in the Shell's Daisuke Aramaki).

The Academy has invited Hayao Miyazaki at least four previous times, and it also invited Studio Ghibli co-founder and producer Toshio Suzuki in 2014. Miyazaki's Spirited Away film won an Oscar in 2003, and he personally came to Los Angeles to accept his Honorary Academy Award in 2014.

The Academy invited Studio Ghibli director Isao Takahata (Only Yesterday, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya) in 2015, but he declined the invitation.

Composer Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away, Departures), a frequent collaborator on Miyazaki's films, was invited in 2013. Kunio Katō was invited in 2009 after becoming only the second Japanese animator to win an Oscar with his "La Maison en Petits Cubes" ("Tsumiki no Ie" or House of Blocks) short.

Thanks to Daniel Zelter for the news tip.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter (Gregg Kilday)


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