Legendary cinematographer, Tunde Kelani, has joined two other Nigerians as additions to the Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences’ newly released diverse list of 842 members.
The accomplished filmmaker joins Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje for acting and the fast-rising Chinonye Chukwu for writing.
The Academy, organisers of the Oscars, made visibly improved racial and gender considerations in the 2019 list that tops the 2018 list.
Over 50 percent of the new members are women and 29 percent are non-white.
This raises the percentage of women in the Academy from 31 percent to 32 percent while the percentage of people of colour remains at 16 percent, same as 2018.
Kelani is one of Nigeria’s most acclaimed directors, known for classics like Saworoide, Agogo Eewo and Dazzling Mirage.
He is currently working on the film adaptation of Wole Soyinka’s award-winning novel, The Lion and the Jewel.
Akinnuoye-Agbaje has been on a steady rise, standing out in films and TV shows like The Bourne Identity, Thor: The Dark World and Suicide Squad.
In 2018, he made his directorial debut at TIFF with the auto-biographical movie, Farming.
Chukwu is the first black woman to win the Sundance Film Festival’s biggest prize for her movie, Clemency.
She is also set to direct the film adaptation of former Black Panther Party chairwoman, Elaine Brown’s memoir, A Taste of Power.
In June 2018, the Nollywood veteran, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, was invited to join the voting process of the Oscars Award.
She was among a group of four Nigerian including Wunmi Mosaku, Femi Odugbemi and Ngozi Onwurah who also determined the winners of the 2019 Oscars.
