By Lindsey Bahr
Actors Lily Gladstone, Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Catherine O'Hara and filmmakers Cord Jefferson, Boots Riley and "RRR" director S.S. Rajamouli are among the lucky few who have been invited to join the film academy.
In total 487 artists, including actors, directors, costume designers, publicists and executives received invitations this year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Tuesday. Those who accept will be able to vote in the Oscars race.
Should all invited in the 2024 class say yes, the academy will have 9,934 voting members and the makeup would be 35% women, 20% from underrepresented ethnic and racial communities and 20% international.
The invitees include 19 Oscar-winners, like best documentary recipient Mstyslav Chernov ("20 Days in Mariupol") and "Anatomy of a Fall" filmmaker Justine Triet, as well as 71 nominees including Sandra Hüller, "The Color Purple's" Danielle Brooks, "Past Lives" filmmaker Celine Song and "Oppenheimer" production designer Ruth De Jong.
Jefferson, who wrote and directed "American Fiction," was among eight individuals invited to join multiple branches. In his case, it was directing and writing, and like his peers he'll have to choose which branch to join. Song and Triet have to make the same decision.
"We are thrilled to welcome this year's class of new members to the academy," said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang in a statement. "These remarkably talented artists and professionals from around the world have made a significant impact on our filmmaking community."
Other actors invited include Jessica Alba, Greta Lee and her "Past Lives" co-star Teo Yoo, Tia Carrere and Stephanie Beatriz. Those asked to join the directors branch include Alice Diop, Lila Avilés, Fede Álvarez, A.V. Rockwell, Emma Seligman and David Yates.
Among the executive branch invitees are Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League and Kim Yutani, the Sundance Film Festival's programming director.
The 97th Academy Awards will be held in Los Angeles on March 2.
Lindsey Bahr is an AP film writer
Epic Games sues Google and Samsung over phone settings, accusing them of violating antitrust laws
Video game maker Epic Games sued Google and Samsung on Monday, accusing the tech companies of coordinating to block third-party competition in application distribution on Samsung devices.
At issue is Samsung's "Auto Blocker" feature, which only allows for apps from authorized sources, such as the Samsung Galaxy Store or Google Play Store, to be installed. The feature is turned on by default but can be changed in a phone's settings. The tool prevents the installation of applications from unauthorized sources and blocks "malicious activity," according to Samsung.
In a lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court — Epic's second against Google — the company said Auto Blocker "is virtually guaranteed to entrench Google's dominance over Android app distribution." Epic, developer of the popular game "Fortnite," filed the suit to prevent Google from "negating the long overdue promise of competition in the Android App Distribution Market," according to the complaint.
"Allowing this coordinated illegal anti-competitive dealing to proceed hurts developers and consumers and undermines both the jury's verdict and regulatory and legislative progress around the world," Epic Games said in a post on its website.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Samsung said it "actively fosters market competition, enhances consumer choice, and conducts its operations fairly."
"The features integrated into our devices are designed in accordance with Samsung's core principles of security, privacy, and user control, and we remain fully committed to safeguarding users' personal data. Users have the choice to disable Auto Blocker at any time," Samsung said, adding that it plans to "vigorously contest Epic Game's baseless... Read More