The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences approved two changes to their nomination rules Tuesday night in an effort to address controversies from years past.
A change was made in the Best Original Song category limiting the total number of songs that can be nominated from a single film to only two.
Last year, three songs from the movie Enchanted were nominated, causing a stir amongst people who believed that one or more of the songs Eddie Vedder contributed to the Into the Wild soundtrack should have been nominated.
My opinion is mixed on this rule change. Yes, if gives more songs an chance at Oscar gold. But it could also mean that there will be great songs that deserve to be nominated left of the list just because two other great songs are in the same movie.
The second rule change pertains to the Best Foreign Language Film category. In previous years, the five nominees for this category were chosen from a list of nine films determined by a 20-member Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee. However, there were films that many felt were deserving of a nomination that didn’t even make this short list.
Under the new rules, this special committee will be responsible for only three of the nine films on this short list. The rest will be determined by a “Phase 1 committee” composed of any voting member who see a minimum number of eligible films.
I think this is a great idea. It opens up the voting to a wider range of films and lets a wider range of opinions be heard. Now, if only they could apply something similar to the Best Documentary Feature category.
