Why are prices “Oscar” still valid?

When members of the film industry gathered this year at the Dolb Theatre for the 91st Film Academy Awards, they joined to honour the remarkable achievements of the 2018 cinema. Meanwhile, there is no doubt that Oscar awards have to do with the spectacle, memorable speeches, another reason why this ceremony is the object of such intense public passion.

In assessing the best movies of a given year, and the people whose work made those films possible, Oscar awards may be a celebration of what is best, a certain idea of America. First and foremost, priced movies are the ones who aim to look for new ways to see the world.

Ask every producer, screenwriter, director or actor, and he or she will tell you that at the core of the movies, it's our purpose and passion, and that everything has to do with the prospect. We're not growing up unless we invite a new perspective. Our art is more vivid, and our industry is more innovative, when we expand our view increasingly.

During my mandate as president of the Academy of Arts and Film Sciences, I have worked and tried to ensure that the Academy has benefited from a broader view, inviting a more diverse group of members, and electing a board of directors. These new members are now helping to elect Oscar candidates and winners. In 2019 the films they proposed for the best photograph make viewers go, among other countries, to the imaginary African kingdoms of Wacanda, Colorado Springs in the 1970s; Mexico City, 1970 '71; and Britain, early 1700 ' s.

Our audiences and stories we tell, are global and rich in diversity. Every aspect of our industry should be yes.

Second, Oscar awards testify to what we all must gain when people worldwide are allowed to use their talents to tell stories in the United States. The remarkable global diversity of screenwriters, directors, producers, and actors is more like an appeal in the United Nations Hall than anything we could have imagined in the last century, and that is something wonderful.

Only the nominated for the Best Director's Award are from Mexico, Poland and Greece, as well as from the US. This year's ceremony showed the unprecedented involvement of talent before and behind the camera. Filmmakers are enriched by “cross-catement”, which comes from sharing history, ideas, production techniques, and talented artists with different backgrounds, nations and cultures.

Academy awards are a kind of feasting of this kind of collaborative work, highlighting not only the contributions of the world's most famous directors and actors of industry, but also the screenwriters who have put words into their mouths; designers who build their own worlds, and who call to mind their clothes, hair, and style; editors, artists of special effects, who do the work of each in a whole of time.

Oscar Awards are a valuable reminder, which we cannot tell stories or promote only ambitious cinematographic products. Moreover, Oscar prices can provide an important reminder of the values we share.

We all react to the art, creativity, conscience, obedience and simple act of telling your history, in the hope that someone will listen somewhere, whether you see it in the darkness of a theater, or on a computer screen, you will see its or her reflection in your vision. That's what our industry means, and actually what's human.

Art has no limits. Art doesn't have one language, and it doesn't belong to one faith. At its highest level, art exceeds all these things that usually divide us. The creative artists around the world, they're connected to each other to an unbreakable relationship, which is powerful and permanent. And so is the public who like their movies. This bond is worthy of celebration during the division of Oscar awards as well as throughout the year.

Note: Cheryl Boone Isaacs, former president of the Academy of Arts and Film Sciences in 2013-2017.