PRESIDENT .;,0;;"'';:;;0 in Paris with news for her comrades of the in Moscow, Ninotchka famously announced at "There are going to be fewer but better Russians." As the result of a new approach to membership insti­ tuted this spring, the Academy is moving toward a similar declaration. Before anyone becomes too alarmed, though, I should make clear that there won't be any purges. This is a Fabian revolution, in which time is going to be allowed to do most of the heavy lifting. And the new system won't really give us "fewer" Academy members; it will only rein in the organization's rapid and somewhat unstructured growth in recent decades. Basically, what we began doing this year is to give each branch or other subsection of membership a target number of candidates to accept for membership. The numbers will vary from year to year, because they will be based on the number of active members we lose through death, the selection of retired status, etc. Some deliberate slack in the system will allow for (but not mandate) a mod­ est growth in membership each year. In the past, we've essentially asked the various member­ ship committees to endorse as many candidates for member­ ship as they cared to, so long as those candidates met the min­ imum requirements in their areas. Now we're asking the committees to give us only their very strongest candidates. Tllis year's 127 new invitees (most of whom will have accepted their invitation by the time you read this) are list­ RAY HARRYHAUSEN WITH ed on page 20. I think you'll find it an impressive roster CHARACTERS HE CREATED - diverse, youngish and fornlidably talented. You will rec­ FOR "THE TORTOISE AND ognize the names of all the inductees who work in your THE HARE." THE MODELS WERE ON DISPLAY IN THE own area, and most of those who've made their marks in ACADEMY'S GRAND LOBBY other parts of the industry. WHEN HARRYHAUSEN Another 25 years like this one and we'll all have even DELIVERED THE PAL more reasons to be proud to identify ourselves as mem­ LECTURE IN APRIL. bers of the Academy. SEE STORY ON PAGE 7. -FRANK PIERSON ACADEMY QUARTERLY REPORT Published by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 8949 Wilshire Boulevard , Beverly Hills, California 90211-1972 (310) 247-3000 • www.oscars.org PRESIDENT . Frank R. Pierson FIRST VICE PRESIDENT ...... Sid Ganis VICE PRESIDENT ........ .. • . • . Gilbert Cates VICE PRESIDENT . Cheryl Boone Isaacs TREASURER . • . • . • . • . • . • . • . • . Kathy Bates SECRETARY . Donald C. Rogers EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ........................................... Bruce DaviS Photos: unless otherwise identified, by Long Photography Design: Lisa Carlsson, Carlsson & Company, Inc. Oscare, Oscars· , Academy Awards· , Academy Award" , A.M.P.AS· , and Oscar Nigh are the trademarks, and the Oscar statuette is the registered design mark and copyrighted property of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 2 A C ADEMY QUARTERLY REPORT· VOL U ME 1 6 Thirteen winning ceremony in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Sunday students from nine evening. colleges and universi­ At the ceremony, the 1 ,012-seat Goldwyn was filled. ties (the fourteenth win­ Clips from the bronze and silver medal-winning films were ner was in Europe on shown and the gold medal films and the foreign student her honeymoon) partici­ film were screened in their entirety - a chance to see, as pated in five days of Academy President Frank Pierson said, "astonishing industry-related activities work by these people who are sneaking up on us to take WINNERS MARK RESERVED SEAT CARDS FOR THEIR GUESTS PRIOR and social events that our jobs away." TO THE CEREMONY. culminated in the 31 st For the students, it was, as animation silver winner Annual Student Academy Awards presentation in the Sukwon Shin said, "the greatest moment of my life." Samuel Goldwyn Theater, the Academy's annual "I've lost all bodily functions," said alternative gold June highlight. winner Robert Castillo. "I can't feel my hands." When they got to town , only one of the students, But sensation came back. Castillo accepted as one Laurits Munch-Petersen from the National Film School of of "the little guys out there Denmark, the winner of the Honorary Foreign Student Film who didn't get picked for Award, knew what he'd won. The U. S. students knew the basketball team or they'd won something, but they didn't know the level of their couldn't get a date to the award - gold, silver or bronze - until it was revealed at prom - that's me. the ceremony. "But now here I am! I feel That kept them humble while they met with each other, ten feet taiL" members of the Student Academy Awards Executive The American students Committee, Academy Governors, cinematographers and first competed in one of three regional com- others during their whirlwind five days in Hollywood. petitions, with each region permitted to send up to three They got a bird's-eye view of Beverly Hills from atop films in each of the four categories for Academy members the Loew's Beverly Hills Hotel the Wednesday they arrived, to watch and vote to select the winners. greeted by members of the executive committee and "This really is an amazing thing the Academy does," Academy staff with whom they would interact over the next said presenter Pete Docter. "You don't see the Student few days; saw each other's films Thursday morning and Nobel Prizes, do ya?" toured Warner Bros. Studios in the afternoon; hobnobbed Besides trophies, gold medalists receive $5,000, with cinematographers during a Friday morning visit to the silver medalists are awarded $3,000 and bronze medal American Society of Cinematographers; passed out busi­ recipients are presented with $2,000. ness cards with abandon at the Governors Dinner at the The Honorary Foreign Film winner was picked, Beverly Hills Hotel on Friday evening, and got the skinny again by members of the Academy, from a on the changing face of image capture at Eastman Kodak record pool of 39 submissions from 23 on Saturday. That left them with countries. This was the fourth time that a one afternoon and evening student film from Denmark won the award. free before the presentation GOVERNOR JUNE FORAY, CHAIR OFTHE STUDENT ACADEMY AWARD EXECUTIVE COMMITIEE, WITH PRE­ SENTER (AND 1992 SAA WINNER) PETE DOCTER AT THE CEREMONY RECEPTION. ALTERNATIVE Gold: "S.PI.C.: The Storyboard ~ GOVERNOR OWEN ROIZMAN (AND SUNDAY of My Life," Robert Castillo, NIGHT AWARDS School of Visual Arts, New York CEREMONY PRESENTER) WITH NARRATIVE CATE­ Silver: "Focus," GORY SILVER MEDAL Bill Ridlehoover and Nilanjan (Neil) Lahiri, WINNER DANA BUNING, CENTER, AND GUEST Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia IVETTE GARCIA DAVILA (No Bronze medal was awarded.) AT THE FRIDAY NIGHT GOVERNORS DINNER. ANIMATION Gold: "Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher," New York University 'Y ACADEMY PRESIDENT FRANK PIERSON WITH Alexander Woo, NARRATIVE GOLD MEDAL WINNER RANDALL DOTTIN AT THE PRESENTATION CEREMONY RECEPTION. Silver: "Rock the World," ~ MICHAEL BARKER, Sukwon Shin, School of Visual Arts, New York CO-PRESIDENT OF SONY PICTURES Bronze: "Lemmings," CLASSICS, CENTER, Craig Van Dyke, WHO PRESENTED CERTIFICATES AT THE Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah NEW YORK REGIONAL FINALS, WITH FINAL­ ISTS JOE TURNER DOCUMENTARY LIN, LEFT, AND JULIE Gold: "Cheerleader," ANNE MEERSCHWAM. Kimberlee Bassford, University of California, Berkeley Silver: "When the Storm Came," Shilpi Gupta, University of California, Berkeley .. GOVERNOR J. PAUL HUNTSMAN, LEFT, AND Bronze: "Cuba: Illogical Temple," 'Y GOVERNOR (AND PRESENTER) ARTHUR DONG WITH HIS WIFE, JESSICA DOCUMENTARY SILVER WINNER SHILPI GUPTA. David Pittock and Lindsey Kealy, GALLAVAN, WITH University of Nebraska, Lincoln NILANJAN LAHIRI, SILVER MEDAL WINNER IN THE NARRATIVE ALTERNATIVE CATEGORY AT THE Gold: "A-Alike," GOVERNORS DINNER. Randall Dottin, Columbia University Silver: "Zeke," Dana Buning, Florida State University, Tallahassee Bronze: "The Plunge," Todd Schulman, Florida State University, Tallahassee HONORARY FOREIGN STUDENT FILM AWARD "Between Us," Laurits Munch-Petersen, National Film School of Denmark UARTE R LY REPORT - SECOND QUA RTE R 2004 5 "The Secret Life of Sets: Set Decorators at ork," a unique exhibition celebrating the art of contemporary set decoration, was featured in the Grand Lobby and Fourth Floor galleries of the Academy, May through August. Eight distinct areas in the Fourth Floor Gallery contained the set dressing and prop items created for their respective mms. These interactive environments included video clips from the fllms and interview footage with the set decorators. Also in the Fourth Floor Gallery were a photographic tour of the profession of set dec­ oration shot by Ken Haber, a three-dimensional "decorator's work space" and an area dedicated to the numerous craftspeople with whom set decorators regularly collaborate. The Grand Lobby Gallery featured two­ dimensional production materials, such as set photographs, production drawings and other process materials, for over a dozen recent titles. A history pavilion, featuring photographs and a specially created short film, showcased many landmark achievements in production design and set decoration. "The Secret Life of Sets" was organized in association with the Set Decorators' Society of America and presented with the support of ArclJitectural Digest and ShdfP. SET DECORATORS WHO ATTENDED THE EXHIBITION'S OPENING RECEPTION IN MAY INCLUDED, TOP TO BOTTOM, LAURI GAFFIN ("CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE"), K.C. FOX ("CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN"), AND ROSEMARY BRANDENBURG ("THE HAU NTED MANSION"). 6 ACA D EMY QUA RTE RLY R EPO RT · VOLUME 16 13 Y,ars Old? W,I(om, to th, 60ldwyn The Board of Governors has The minimum age does not apply dropped the minimum age of attendees to "fami ly screenings" of appropriate at the Academy's theaters from 16 to 13.