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Academy reverses decision: All Oscars to be presented live on air

By Karen Butler
The Academy Awards ceremony is to take place Feb. 24. All of the Oscars will be presented during the live broadcast on ABC in a reversal of a decision to relegate some of the winner announcements to commercial breaks. File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI
The Academy Awards ceremony is to take place Feb. 24. All of the Oscars will be presented during the live broadcast on ABC in a reversal of a decision to relegate some of the winner announcements to commercial breaks. File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 16 (UPI) -- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences reversed its decision to hand out four Oscars during commercial breaks in an attempt to shorten its broadcast on ABC.

"The academy has heard the feedback from its membership regarding the Oscar presentation of four awards -- Cinematography, Film Editing, Live Action Short, and Makeup and Hairstyling. All Academy Awards will be presented without edits, in our traditional format. We look forward to Oscar Sunday," the officers of the academy's board of governors said in a statement Friday.

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Several filmmakers expressed their disappointment after the decision was made to give out the four awards during commercial breaks, then honor the winners during a taped segment later in the show.

"I would not presume to suggest what categories should occur during commercials on Oscars night, but, please: Cinematography & Editing are at the very heart of our craft. They are not inherited from a theatrical or literary tradition: they are cinema itself," Oscar-winning The Shape of Water writer-director Guillermo del Toro tweeted.

Alfonso Cuaron, whose film Roma is up for 10 Oscars this year, also urged the academy to reconsider how it recognized the winners in the four categories.

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"In the history of CINEMA, masterpieces have existed without sound, without color, without a story, without actors and without music. No one single film has ever existed without CINEMAtography and without editing," the filmmaker said.

The Oscars gala in Los Angeles on Feb. 24 will celebrate excellence in film for 2018. This will be the first time in 30 years the ceremony won't have a host after comedian Kevin Hart backed out of the gig due to criticism regarding homophobic jokes he made nearly a decade ago.

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