April Reign, creator of #OscarsSoWhite, reacted to the winners from the 2017 Academy Awards.
There have been two years of running controversy surrounding the Academy Awards and a lack of diversity in their nominees for the major acting categories. This year, multiple actors and actresses of color were nominated and won major acting awards. Feature film, Moonlight, also won Best Picture. The Los Angeles Times spoke with April Reign about whether she believed the wins for actors of color and films with casts of color was a breakthrough in diversity for the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences or whether it was simply a one off.
“My main takeaway was that when quality films are made that reflect the diversity of experiences in this country, people will go to see them. They will receive critical acclaim and, in some cases, they will win what is considered the highest award in the film industry,” said Reign about the Sunday night festivities and the state of the American film industry. “I’m also incredibly encouraged about what happened in the lesser-known categories: adapted screenplay and best documentary and even the nominations that we had of black people in cinematography and editing. All that said, it’s just one night out of 90 nights of lack of representation of marginalized communities and, even with all of the wins [Sunday] night for films that reflect the black experience, #OscarsSoWhite remains relevant because there are still so many stories from traditionally underrepresented communities that need to be told.”