Dutch cameraman Jasper Wolf and stuntman WIllem de Beukelaer are two of the more than 800 new members of the Academy, the organization that awards the Oscars every year. They have a say in the winners of the prestigious film awards.
De Beukelaer has been active in the film world for decades. He was surprised this morning by the news. “I can just see it. I have to register I see in the email in which they announced it, so I started doing that right away”, he reacts enthusiastically. He is the son of the now deceased legendary stuntman Hammy de Beukelaer and now works as a stunt coordinator and director. He himself has not performed stunts for years because of physical complaints that he received from work. In addition to many Dutch productions, he also contributed to Ocean’s Twelve and Netflix series Mindhunters.
“I think it is an honor to be invited. That will probably be watching videos,” he responds to what awaits him. De Beukelaer does not yet know more about membership of the prestigious organization. “Sorry if I’m vague, but I don’t know myself. I don’t know why I was invited either. I’ve been doing this year for 35 years and have a Golden Calf in the closet, just like Jasper, by the way. have to deal with.”
‘Huge honor’
Wolf contributed to the films, among other things Instinct, Jumpsuits, Nobody in the city in Lumberjack. He also participated in the series Separated from God. His latest movie, Paradise Drifters, will premiere in September.
“I heard it last night through friends and colleagues who had seen the list at Indiewire,” said Wolf. “Then I saw that I indeed had an email from the Academy.” Like De Beukelaer, he does not know exactly what membership means. “Besides being a great honor to be a member, to vote and screen films.” Wolf thinks he was invited because of the recent films he worked on. “Jumpsuits participated in the Oscarrace for a long time. Instinct, the film by Halina Reijn, is not yet in the cinema in the US, but is already receiving a lot of positive attention. “
More diversity
After criticizing the mainly white and male composition of the jury members, the Academy does its best to take greater account of diversity. For example, almost half of the new members are women and one in three is not white. About half of the new members are not from the US.
With a new initiative, the organization wants to boost the diversity in the film world and its own supporters. If more attention is not paid to inclusivity, films run the risk of not being eligible for an Oscar in the future. The organization will ask for demographics of the production when nominating for the film award. It is not yet known what the plan will look like.
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