How the Academy’s Screening Room Helps Films Find a Global Audience Among Oscar Voters
Sasha Urban editorAs the pandemic raged and in-person screenings practically disappeared, the Academy’s Screening Room has found an appreciative audience.Many film distributors are able to send links to their films to various guilds, media members and voters; the Academy has stepped in with its screening room, offering voters those films plus other contenders who can’t afford to do that.With the Acad’s growing international membership, the website has been a boon, especially to those who submitted shorts, documentaries and international films.The website may also have helped international films such as “Parallel Mothers,” “The Worst Person in the World” and “Drive My Car” earn noms in other categories, such as original screenplay for “Worst” and three others for “Drive” (best picture, screenplay and director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi). Although there have been growing pains since its inception in 2015, the streaming room has found an appreciative audience among the 9,573 Oscar voters.“Our membership, especially internationally, was continuing to grow,” says Tom Oyer, senior VP of member relations and awards for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.