Every year, the Academy Awards snub a deserving film or actor. There are only so many slots for performers to be nominated, after all. However, this year, a lot of great films didn't get any nods at all. Many of them, interestingly enough, were distributed by the same company: A24. The independent distributor has made a name for itself over the years for releasing critically acclaimed films that bend genre conventions. Their films have received critical acclaim over the years, with one, Moonlight, taking home the Oscar for Best Picture at the 89th Academy Awards.
However, every year, many of their critically acclaimed films get overlooked by the Academy. This year, four A24 films -- The Farewell, Midsommar, The Lighthouse and Uncut Gems -- stood as front runners during award season. Between the four films, only one (The Lighthouse) was nominated for an award. But why is this the case?
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THE VALUE OF A24
It is undeniable that some A24 films get Oscars. Alongside Moonlight, A24 films like Ex Machina, Room and Amy all took home some gold. The company has, in total, received 25 Academy Award nominations since the company's inception in 2012. But the problem is that the majority of their films, while critically acclaimed, get little recognition from the Academy -- even when other Awards shows meet them with praise.
The company first rose to prominence with Roman Coppola's A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III and Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers. From there, three particular films pushed them into mainstream popularity: Alex Garland's modern sci-fi masterpiece Ex Machina, Lenny Abrahamson's disturbing Room and Robert Eggers's modern horror classic The Witch. Other notable films include Under the Skin, Tusk, Mississippi Grind, Green Room, The Lobster, Swiss Army Man, A Ghost Story, The Florida Project, Lady Bird, Hereditary, Eighth Grade and Mid90s. They either produce or distribute between 18 to 20 films a year, all of which are independent, low-budget productions that typically receive critical acclaim.
A24 films often give voice to creators that might not otherwise have a chance to tell their story. Moonlight is a story about a gay black man. How many movies can you think of that feature someone like that in the lead of a film? Many actors, such as Mahershala Ali, Alicia Vikande, Anya Taylor-Joy, Elsie Fisher and Florence Pugh received mainstream acclaim thanks to their roles in these films, which, in turn, led to more opportunities for all parties involved. Of the five actors mentioned, three of them, Ali, Taylor-Joy and Pugh have been cast in comic book related films as Blade, Magik, and Yelena Belova, respectively.
GENRE IS ALWAYS SNUBBED
This is where things get problematic. A24 as a company has received tons of awards, but there were multiple films that have been snubbed over the years. A great example is The Witch, one of the films that really put A24 on the map. While Egger's follow-up, The Lighthouse, earned him a single Oscar nomination, The Witch had a far better reception with mainstream audiences (though, critically, both were given high praise). The Witch received accolades and awards from Sundance, the Toronto Film Critics Association, The Independent Spirit Awards, Rotten Tomatoes and the Saturns -- but the film received no acknowledgment from the Academy.
Then, in 2018, Ari Aster's Hereditary broke onto the scene. From the moment it was released, critics praised not just the film itself, but also its star, Toni Collette. Toni Collette's performance in Hereditary was arguably the best of the year, yet everyone understood that the Academy would not even nominate her for her performance. So it came as no surprise when the 91st Academy Awards ignored Hereditary entirely. Ari Aster's follow-up, Midsommar, was similarly ignored by the Academy (though star Florence Pugh is up for an Oscar this year thanks to her role in Little Women).
All four of these films have one thing in common: all of them are labeled as horror films. The Academy Awards often don't nominate genre films. Sure, many people argue the Academy doesn't respect superhero films, but Black Panther, Joker, The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2 and even Superman: The Movie either were nominated or won Oscars. However, horror has it way worse historically. The only horror film to win Best Picture at the Oscars is Silence of the Lambs. Other Oscar winners include Get Out, The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby and, arguably, Black Swan. Horror movies are only up for Academy Awards if they are too huge to ignore or can easily be re-branded as "thrillers."
The Witch and Hereditary never had a chance at being nominated because they were overt horror films. It does not matter how well-realized the drama is or that Toni Collette's performance is at once heart-wrenching and disturbing. A24 releases tons of films, regardless of genre conventions, but because of the company's increasing popularity among horror fans, they make more. With more and more of their output being horror, it looks like fewer films are going to merit consideration by the Academy.
The same is true for other genres, such as sci-fi. Under the Skin features Scarlet Johannson's greatest performance as an alien entity hunting down prey to skin alive. The film is surreal, making it onto multiple best films of the decade's lists. But it's sci-fi so the Academy didn't nominate it for anything.
DIVERSITY PROBLEMS
This year also saw The Farewell and Uncut Gems get snubbed. It's possible that Uncut Gems, a film starring Adam Sandler, might've been dismissed out of turn just due to the Academy's personal biases, but why did The Farewell fail to get a nod? At the Golden Globes, Awkwafina won for her performance in that film and the film has received tons of acclaim. So why didn't it get a single mention?
The answer might be surprisingly disappointing: the people who vote for movies at the Academy are primarily white, old men who watch movies they can relate to. A24-alumnus Greta Gerwig did not receive a nomination for her direction of Little Women. Parasite received plenty of critical praise for the direction and technical aspects, but not a single cast member was nominated for anything. The main films nominated for almost every category this year (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, 1917, The Irishman, and Joker) were about white men. Many of the other films up for awards (Marriage Story, The Two Popes, Ford v. Ferrari) are also primarily about white men. The majority of films that deal with diversity are either ground-breaking films (Moonlight, BlackKklansman, Black Panther) or deal with the pain minorities face due to oppression (12 Years a Slave, Get Out). It's even better for the Academy if the film features a white person learning a lesson thanks to the systemic oppression a black person faces (Green Book).
The Farewell is none of those things. It's just a great film dealing with culture clash and tragedy. It wasn't a film about oppression or white people, it was just a heartbreaking drama, so the Academy voters thought they could afford to ignore it. A24 prioritizes offering many unique voices a chance to tell their stories. However, the problem is that their films aren't "event films" about "big issues," necessarily, so the voting body doesn't think they need to give them the time of day.