The organizers Oscars have announced that a new award for best casting will be added to the Academy Awards from 2026. This is the first competitive new golden statuette added to Hollywood’s most important award show in more than two decades.
Confirming the addition of the new awards, Academy CEO Bill Kramer and president Janet Yang said in a statement, “Casting directors play an essential role in filmmaking, and as the Academy evolves, we are proud to add casting to the disciplines that we recognize and celebrate.”
However, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ statement did not revealed whether the casting award will be handed out during the live Oscars show itself.
It is worth mentioning here that currently, all 23 existing categories are presented live during the gala. The last new Oscar created was best animated film in 2001.
Earlier, filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s recent release ’12th Fail’ has been submitted to the Oscars as an independent nomination, confirmed the film’s lead actor Vikrant Massey, who plays IPS officer Manoj Kumar Sharma in the movie.
During a media event, Vikrant shared the news and also spoke about his journey in the film industry that started when he was just 15.
Meanwhile, the documentary film ‘To Kill a Tiger’, directed by Indian-born Canadian filmmaker Nisha Pahuja, has been nominated for the upcoming edition of the Oscar awards. The film has been nominated in the Documentary Feature Film category.
The fellow nominees are ‘Bobi Wine: The People’s President’, ‘The Eternal Memory’, ‘Four Daughters’,and ‘20 Days in Mariupol’.
Notably, the RRR and The Elephant Whisperers were awarded the Best Original Song for ‘Naatu Naatu’ and the Best Documentary Short Subject category respectively at the 95th Academy Awards.
The 2024 Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 10 at 4:00 pm (Pacific Standard Time) at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles. It will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
Ms Kalinga