{"id":463829,"date":"2026-05-01T20:42:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T20:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/463829\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T20:42:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T20:42:17","slug":"oscar-rules-changes-seismic-moves-in-acting-and-international-film-categories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/463829\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar Rules Changes: Seismic Moves In Acting and International Film Categories"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences<\/a> has just made Oscar rule and eligibility changes in the acting and International Film categories that have to rank with the most significant in its nearly 100-year history.<\/p>\n

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\n\tFrom this point on in the acting categories, both lead and supporting, actors can be nominated for more than one performance in those individual categories if those performances place in the top five votes. In other words, if Leonardo DiCaprio has two great lead performances in the same year, he can now be nominated for both for Best Actor. The same would apply if he also had multiple supporting performances. <\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: <\/strong>All The Best Picture Oscar Winners \u2013 Photo Gallery<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tPreviously, unlike every other category, if an actor had movies that gained two or even three of the top five votes, only the performance that got the most votes would be eligible. The Academy\u2019s Board of Governors now has thrown that stipulation out the window to match the way other categories always have operated. In 2000, for example, Steven Soderbergh was nominated for Best Director for Erin Brockovich and Traffic, winning for the latter. The same thing now can happen in acting categories. If an actor has an extremely prolific year, might we even see someone swallow up three of the five nominations? Probably won\u2019t happen, but it\u2019s now possible.<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: <\/strong>All The Best Director Oscar Winners \u2013 Photo Gallery<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tAnother seismic and long-overdue change is coming to the International Film category (formerly Foreign Language Film), where there now are two ways to submit a movie for consideration. Previously a film had to be the official selection chosen by the country or region, but now a non-English-language film can be submitted simply by winning a qualifying award at an international film festival. Those festivals and specific awards qualifying this year will be Berlin (Golden Bear), Busan (Best Film Award), Cannes (Palme d\u2019Or), Sundance (World Cinema Grand Jury Prize), Toronto (Platform Award) and Venice (Golden Lion). One recent example would be that France\u2019s Anatomy of a Fall, which won the Palme d\u2019Or in Cannes but was not submitted to Oscars<\/a> by France, now would be eligible as well as the country\u2019s official entry.<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: <\/strong>All The Best International Feature Film Oscar Winners \u2013 Photo Gallery<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThere is another equally eye-popping change in that the International Feature Film category now will be credited as the nominee rather than country or region, as always has been the case The award will continue to be accepted by the director on behalf of the whole creative team, but the director\u2019s name now will be on the statuette plaque. It never was before, and AMPAS didn\u2019t include International Film wins in the official count of how many Oscars that director may have won in other categories. Oscar only counted the wins for individual countries. Ever.<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: <\/strong>All The Best Actor Oscar Winners \u2013 Photo Gallery<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tAnd wait, there\u2019s more! AMPAS has jumped into the AI<\/a> conversation in an official way, now clearly stating that only performances \u201cdemonstrably performed by humans\u201d will be eligible in acting categories. The same goes in writing categories, which have been codified to say only human-authored screenplays are eligible.<\/p>\n

\n\tBig day for the Academy and for Oscar. All the changes, including tweaks to campaign rules<\/a>, are listed below as well as submission deadlines and key dates for the 99th Annual Academy Awards on March 14.<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: <\/strong>All The Best Actress Oscar Winners \u2013 Photo Gallery<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tSubstantive awards rules changes include:\u00a0<\/p>\n