Update (13 March 2023): The 95th Academy Awards were announced on 12 March 2023 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. India grabbed two Academy Awards. While ‘Naatu Naatu’ from ‘RRR’ won the Oscar for Best Original Song, ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Film.
Multiple posts are being shared on social media claiming that several Indian films like Kantara, RRR, The Kashmir Files, etc. have been nominated/qualified/shortlisted for the Oscars-2023 under the category of ‘Best Film’, and the actors from those films under the ‘Best Actor’ category. Some of those posts can be seen here, here, here, and here. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Several Indian films like Kantara, RRR, The Kashmir Files, etc. have been nominated for the Oscars 2023 under the ‘Best Film’ and ‘Best Actor’ categories.
Fact: The nominations for the 95th Academy Awards (Oscars) will be announced on 24 January 2023. The names of the films mentioned in several social media posts are actually part of the ‘Reminder List of Productions Eligible for the 95th Academy Awards’. If any film is part of that list, it does not mean it is nominated or shortlisted. It just means that the film met the eligibility criteria listed by the Oscars and is eligible for nomination. Many Indian films have also been part of the Oscars ‘Reminder List’ in the past and have not advanced to the nominations. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When we checked on the ‘Oscars’ official website to check whether the mentioned films were nominated, we found that they were part of a list recently released by the Oscars. The list is called – ‘REMINDER LIST OF PRODUCTIONS ELIGIBLE FOR THE 95TH ACADEMY AWARDS’. If any film is part of that list, it does not mean it is nominated or shortlisted. It just means has met the eligibility criteria listed by the Oscars & is eligible for nomination. The eligibility criteria can be read here and here. The listed eligibility criteria do not include any artistic qualitative requirements (like how good the film is or how good the actors performed in the film).
The names of the actors mentioned in the list also do not mean they have been shortlisted. As mentioned on the Oscars website, “The Reminder List also includes the performers eligible for consideration in the Acting categories”. In the Rules document, it can be also read that – “A Reminder List including up to ten eligible actresses and up to ten eligible actors for each eligible motion picture shall be made available along with nominations ballots to all active members of the Actors Branch, who shall vote in the order of their preference for not more than five acting achievements in each category….”
Several Indian films have also been part of the Oscars ‘Reminder List’ in the past and have not advanced to the nominations. Some of the Indian Films which were part of the previous Reminder Lists can be found here – ‘Jai Bhim’ and ‘Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham’ (94th Oscars Production Reminder List), ‘Soorarai Pottru’ (93rd), ‘The Sound Story’ (91st), ‘Pulimurugan’ (90th), ‘Kochadaiiyaan’ (87th), ‘My Name is Khan’ (83rd).
The nominations voting will begin on 12 January 2023, and the nominations for the 95th Academy Awards will be announced on 24 January 2023. The Academy has announced shortlists for 10 categories in December 2022. The categories and the shortlists can be seen here (Please note that shortlists do not mean nominations). The list of Indian films shortlisted in those 10 categories can be seen here.
To sum it up, the Oscars ‘Reminder List’ just suggests that films have met eligibility criteria; it does not mean they are nominated.
