Oscars 2019: Academy cuts four technical categories from ceremony telecast; Guillermo del Toro criticises move

The Academy has finally revealed the Oscar categories that will be presented during the commercial breaks of this year’s broadcast in an attempt to shorten the show to three hours. The Oscars for cinematography, film editing, makeup and hairstyling and live-action short will be presented off-air at this year’s ceremony, an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences spokesperson said on Monday. The winning speeches will air later in the broadcast and will also be live-streamed on Oscar.com and the film academy’s social accounts. [caption id=“attachment_4928561” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Oscars. Image via Twitter[/caption] Film academy president John Bailey said in a note to members that the executive committees of six branches opted-in to this “slightly edited timeframe” and the board of governors chose four for this year. “We are committed to presenting a show which we all will be proud of,” Bailey said. In future years, four to six rotating categories could be cut from the broadcast. The plan to hand out certain awards during commercials to achieve a three-hour runtime on 24 February was announced in August as one of a few changes to combat declining ratings. But unlike the popular Oscar category, which was walked back for further consideration after impassioned backlash, this one stuck. The move has been generally disliked by both nominees and many film fans on social media, some of whom have been tweeting with the hashtag #PresentAll24 for weeks. Guillermo del Toro, the Oscar-winning director of The Shape Of Water, too took to Twitter to criticise the decision, saying: “Cinematography and editing are at the very heart of our craft. They are not inherited from a theatrical tradition or a literary tradition: they are cinema itself.”

(With inputs from The Associated Press)