Moonlight, Hidden Figures, Fences among 2017 Oscar nominees

January 24, 2017 Jeffrey Lyles 1 Comment 2017 Oscars, Fences, Hidden Figures, Moonlight

RIP OscarsSoWhite? With so many quality potential nominees, the odds were long on another embarrassing year where few minorities were recognized for the 2017 Oscars. That definitely won’t be the case this year.

Actors of color make up seven of the 20 acting nominations while three films featuring a predominantly black cast are among the eight Best Picture nominees. The best director category also has representation.

Most encouraging is there aren’t any obvious minority slights or egregious omissions ala last year’s award circuit where Creed was roundly snubbed saved Sylvester Stallone for Best Supporting Actor. The biggest this year is Amy Adams was shut out despite turning in two Best Actress nominee worthy performances in Arrival and Nocturnal Animals.

These nominees clearly signal efforts to increase minority representation among Academy Award voters is helping to bring about some change. It was never a case of there not being enough quality movies to warrant recognition, but there definitely was an effort to acknowledge more of them where it mattered most.