The film Selma , released in 2014, had everything to please the Oscars, who preferred to snub it. In question ? The position taken by the whole team against police violence following the death of Eric Garner. The feature film could have had the same career as 12 Years a Slave , released a year earlier.
The plot told a true story: that of the role played by Martin Luther King during the events in Selma in 1965 for civil rights. A prestigious director: Ava DuVernay. Powerful producers: Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt, among others. And an actor of choice: David Oyelowo in the role of the charismatic activist. Yes but here, between the two, Eric Garner, an African-American, died during his arrest by the police. An arrest which echoes, six years later, that of George Floyd, since Eric Garner's last words were "I can't breathe", when the police held him immobilized 'a similar way.
I spoke with the mothers of Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and Oscar Grant about how they're feeling after George Floyd's death.
Their wounds are reopening, but they want protesters to march on and "keep up the fight." Https://t.co/VeNFkIxrAs
At the premiere of the film in New York, the cast decided to show the whole world its opposition to police violence by all wearing a t-shirt written on it "I Can't Breathe". As David Oyelowo tells Screen Daily, the Academy of Oscars has chosen to sanction them for this.
"The members of the Academy called the studio and our producers saying" How dare they do that? Why do they stir up the shit? " and "We will not vote for this film, because we do not think it is their role to do that". This is partly why the film didn't get everything that many thought it should have received and it gave birth to #OscarsSoWhite. They used their privilege to deny a film based on what matters to them, ”said David Oyelowo.
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Join us in congratulating @Common & @JohnLegend for their Academy Award for Best Original Song, "GLORY". #MarchOn #SelmaMovie #Selma
A post shared by Selma Movie (@selmamovie) on Feb 23, 2015 at 10:14 am PST
Selma had won the Oscar for Best Original Song for Glory by John Legend.
Pending change promises
Ava DuVernay confirmed David Oyewolo's comments on his Twitter account.
True story. https://t.co/l7j8EUg3cC
- Ava DuVernay (@ava) June 5, 2020And six years later, the Oscars expressed themselves in a succinct tweet to say ... that the message had passed: "Ava and David, we heard you. This is unacceptable. We are committed to progress, ”says the account of the ceremony.
A year after the release of Selma and the scandal caused by #OscarsSoWhite, the number of black actors nominated for the American award ceremony was increasing. In 2020, however, the Oscars stood out for being "very masculine and very white", as the New York Times headlined . 6 of the 9 nominated in the Best Film category were white men. 19 of the 20 actors and actresses named were white.
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