In the wake of “To Leslie,” the Academy is cracking down on the Oscar campaign, restricting celebrity gatherings and social media promotions.

The Academy’s Board of Governors met on Friday and voted to approve a long list of rule changes for the 96th Oscars which will be held on March 10, 2024. These revised rules cover new requirements for countries submitting films for the Oscar for Best International Feature Film, increased restrictions on promotional campaignsAnd Eligible Release Dates for General Admission. And finally, the inclusion standards for Best Picture eligibility, announced in 2020, will now be applied. (You can see the full list of updated regulations here.)

As for the change in the number of theaters and the cities movies must book to be eligible for the Oscars, this conversation has been filed, sources say, for the next round of rule changes for the 97th Academy Awards, which will take place in 2025. That makes sense, because it There are complicated issues regarding big studio releases versus less-funded independent distribution.

In a surprise move, the Academy also changed the rules for the International Feature Film category. They now stipulate that selection committees around the world, in each country that submits a film for the Oscar, must include at least 50% of filmmakers (artists and/or artisans).

This means that the Academy, with the aim of improving the quality of foreign language films submitted each year, indicates to each country, from Brazil and Iran to France and Timbuktu – including the selection committees managed by the government – how to choose their Oscar films. It might reduce political bias in some of these selections, but if Iran doesn’t want to submit a banned filmmaker, this new rule probably won’t make a difference.

Winning the international Oscar means a lot to countries around the world. So many people will probably comply. But who makes the final call on what to submit? That is the question.

Finally, after a first announcement in 2020, the requirements of the Academy’s Inclusion Standards come into effect. In order to be eligible for the Best Picture category, these requirements will come into effect for the 96th Academy Awards. There’s a new form to fill out when submitting a film for the Best Picture review: the Representation and Inclusion (RAISE) Entry Form. Each film must meet the requirements of two of the four inclusion standards. (More information on Inclusion Standards is here.)

In the wake of the controversy surrounding popular Oscar campaign “To Leslie” for eventual Best Actress nominee Andrea Riseborough – which included several private screenings, parties and social media posts – the Board of Governors has tightened the rules for the Oscar campaign.

The Academy is trying to clarify campaign rules for private gatherings. The Board of Governors allows private events attended by Academy members, but they are not classified as “For Your Consideration” (FYC) events. This means that film distributors and producers are prohibited from paying for, setting up or endorsing them.

With respect to Academy members’ use of direct email and public social media to promote their favorites, the Academy takes into account any discussion of Oscar voting strategy, decisions, or preferences, as well as eligibility requirements such as inclusion standards. (They may be expecting a blowback.) Also banned — it still hasn’t been allowed — to participate in the increasingly popular anonymous voting stories.

The Academy is establishing ways to enforce these new rules by establishing a process for reporting campaign violations or concerns (promotionalregulations@oscars.org) as well as a review process for all distributors or individuals associated with violations. The Academy will apply penalties.

The Academy greatly reduced the unlimited number of hosted screenings a film could have. In recent years, Oscar campaigners have relied on big-name stars and filmmakers to host screenings. Now, these will be limited during the pre-Oscar nomination period to a maximum of four. There will be no “organized” screenings after the announcement of the nominations.

On the other hand, Q&As and panels, which presumably offer useful information, are fair game and campaigners can set as many as they want, before and after the nominations. (Q&As were previously limited to four during the post-nominations season.)

Academy President Janet Yang at the 2022 Science and Engineering Awards at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

Al Seib / ©AMPAS

Academy governors have also clarified that they themselves are not permitted to participate in any Oscar campaign, whether by hosting screenings, Q&As or panels, unless they are directly associated with a particular film or being invited to participate in an official Academy event. .

When Academy President Janet Yang was criticized for posting a Oscar nominee Michelle Yeoh’s endorsement during Oscar season, she deleted her tweets. The Academy clarifies that none of these public promotions are allowed, from the day the shortlists are announced until the end of the final vote. The Academy is also relaxing rules around the use of “shortlisted” in FYC submissions. It is now allowed.

Similar to animated features, in the live-action shorts category, the Academy allows all Academy members who register to participate in voting.

The Academy prohibits the sending of any physical marketing materials, from postcards to screening times, in the interest of sustainability. Activists can still use digital means of communication to reach Academy members, but only through an Academy-approved mailing house. And in the interests of fairness, the Academy’s digital portal, the Academy Screening Room, will be more accessible to freelancers who cost less than $10 million through a discounted rate.

Academy governors also approved the establishment of two submission deadlines for general entry categories. A feature film must have an eligible theatrical release date between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023. Submission deadlines are September 15, 2023 (for films released January 1 through June 30) and November 15, 2023 (for films released July 1 through December 31). Several other film categories will also have two submission deadlines depending on the qualifying date.

Submission deadlines and additional key dates are listed below.

Tuesday, August 15, 2023: First submission deadline for the Animated Short Film, Documentary Feature Film, Documentary Short Film and Live Action Short Film categories

Friday, September 15, 2023: First submission deadline for the Animated Feature Film and General Admission categories

Monday, October 2, 2023: Last submission deadline for the Documentary Feature Film and International Feature Film categories

Monday, October 16, 2023: Last submission deadline for the Animated Short Film, Documentary Short Film and Live Action Short Film categories

Wednesday, November 1, 2023: Last submission deadline for the Music (Original Score) and Music (Original Song) categories

Wednesday, November 15, 2023: Last submission deadline for the Animated Feature Film and General Admission categories

Saturday January 13, 2024: Visual effects nomination screening (bake-off)

Sunday January 14, 2024: Makeup and Hairstyle nomination selection and Sound nomination selection (bake-offs)

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