For the past few years, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been actively trying to diversify its membership. That’s how Gina Rodriguez, Daniela Vega, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Kleber Mendonça Filho have come into the fold as voting members of their respective branches. (During the nomination process, actors vote for the acting categories, editors for the editing one, directors for the directing one, and so on and so forth). This year, the Academy made a point of sharing just how broad a community they have brought into the membership: 50% of all new members are women (indeed, 10 branches invited more women than men this year), while 29% are people of color.
The (mostly) Latin American filmmakers and (very few) U.S. Latinos invited showcase a broad cross-section of the industry. From Argentine producers Benjamín Doménech, Santiago Galleli, Matías Roveda (of Lucrecia Martel’s Zama), Heitor Teixeira Pereira (Brazilian composer behind Real Women Have Curves), Phil Lord (Cuban-American Oscar-winner responsible for the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) to Marina de Tavira (Mexican actress who was a surprise Best Supporting Actress nominee for Roma), this year’s list is a reminder of the wildly talented pool of people who work in the U.S. and Latin America. One name curiously missing from the list is breakout actress Yalitza Aparicio. The Roma Best Actress nominee was eligible to be invited but may well have missed on an invite given that her work for Alfonso Cuarón’s Oscar-winning film was her first-ever on-screen performance. Here’s hoping she gets to showcase more of her talent in the years to come and finds an invite to the Academy in the near future.
In case you’re curious to see who else got invited, below is a survey of our favorite 12 invitees. Check them out below, as well as an added list of other talented folks from all across AMPAS’ branches that will get to decide whether, unlike this past year, a Spanish-language film will break through in the Best Picture race.
Yareli Arizmendi, Actor
A Day Without a Mexican
Like Water for Chocolate
Bruno Bichir, Actor
Crónica de un Desayuno
Principio y Fin
Héctor Bonilla, Actor
7:19 La Hora del Temblor
Rojo Amanecer
Juan Diego Botto, Actor
Ismael
Vete de Mí
Marina de Tavira, Actress
Roma
La Zona (The Zone)
Gina Gallego, Actress
Minority Report
Erin Brockovich
Dolores Heredia, Actress
Huérfanos
A Better Life
Ofelia Medina, Actress
Innocent Voices
Frida: Naturaleza Viva
Lucía Gajá, Director
Batallas Intimas
Mi Vida Dentro
Phil Lord, Director/Writer/Animation
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
21 Jump Street
Gloria Rolando, Director
Dialogue with My Grandmother
1912: Breaking the Silence, Chapter 1
Sebastián Silva, Writer
Tyrel
Magic Magic
Additional Notable Invitees
Carolina Costa, Cinematographer
Diego García, Cinematographer
Miguel Littin Menz, Cinematographer
Julio Suárez, Costume Designer
Anna Terrazas, Costume Designer
Isabel Arrate Fernandez, Documentary
Carrie Lozano, Documentary
Martha Orozco, Documentary
Heitor Teixeira Pereira, Music
Lucy Barreto, Producer
Luiz Carlos Barreto, Producer
Santiago Gallelli, Producer
David Hinojosa, Producer
Matias Roveda, Producer
Barbara Enriquez, Art Director
David Torres, Animation
Sergio Diaz, Sound
Carlos Solis, Sound
Valeria Sarmiento, Writer
Víctor Gaviria, Writer