The Golden Globe nominations were announced a couple of weeks ago. Next month, the Academy Award nominations will be announced. During last year’s award season, there was a controversial hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. Several people on the internet were complaining about the lack of recognition African-Americans have received by the Academy Awards. Although I am a huge fan of diversity, I think that the #OscarsSoWhite issue was overly exaggerated. However, I am not arguing that African-Americans do not have the right to feel upset over not being recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Talent from all races and ethnicities should be recognized. Nevertheless, I do think that African-Americans have been recognized by the Academy plenty of times:

• Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave won best picture in the 2013/2014 Oscar season
• Denzel Washington won two Oscars: one for best supporting actor in 1990 for the film Glory and one for best leading actor in 2002 for the film Training Day.
• Octavia Spencer won best supporting actress in the 2011/2012 Oscar season for The Help.
• John Legend won best original song in the 2014/2015 Oscar season for his song “Glory” in the movie Selma.
• Hattie McDaniel won best-supporting actress in 1940 for her role in the 1939 film Gone With the Wind. She was the first black individual to win an Academy Award.
• Sidney Poitier won best leading actor in 1964 for the film Lilies of the Field. He was the first black man to win the best leading actor award.
• Isaac Hayes won best original song for the movie Shaft at the 1972 Academy Awards.
• Louis Gossett Jr. won the best supporting actor award in 1983 for the film An Officer and a Gentleman. He was the first black man to win best supporting actor.
• Whoopi Goldberg won best supporting actress for her role in Ghost in 1991.
• Cuba Gooding Jr. won best supporting actor in 1997 for his role in Jerry Maguire.
• Jamie Foxx won best actor in 2005 for best leading actor in Ray.
• Halle Berry won best leading actress in 2002 for her role in Monster Ball.
• Morgan Freeman won best supporting actor in 2005 for his role in Million Dollar Baby.
• Three Six Mafia won best original song in 2006 for the song “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” from the film Hustle & Flow.
• Forest Whitaker won best leading actor in 2007 for his role in The Last King of Scotland.
• Jennifer Hudson won best supporting actress in 2007 for her role in Dreamgirls.
• Geoffrey Fletcher won the Oscar for best-adapted screenplay in 2010 for the film Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire. He was the first African-American to win the award.
• Mo’nique won the Oscar for best supporting actress in 2010 for her role in the film Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire.
• Roger Ross Williams won best documentary short subject in 2010 for Music by Prudence.
• T.J. Martin won best documentary feature length for his film Undefeated in 2012. He was the first African-American to win the award.
• Finally, how can we forget the victory of the beautiful and talented Lupita Nyong’o for her role in 12 Years a Slave.

This award season, Barry Jenkins’ film Moonlight is getting a lot of Oscar buzz. I predict Moonlight to win a lot of awards. It is nominated for several Golden Globes. If Moonlight does not win any awards, then the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag has a valid reason to trend online.

Last year, John Oliver did a sketch on Hollywood Whitewashing. Oliver pointed out how the lack of diversity among the Oscar contenders has less to do with the Academy being racist and more to do with the fact that it is much easier for caucasian individuals to get acting roles. Specifically, Oliver points out that white people often play characters who are supposed to be Asian. For example, Tom Cruise starred in The Last Samurai and Mickey Rooney played a Chinese man in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. A similar controversy was seen this year when Tilda Swinton played The Ancient One in Doctor Strange. Similarly, a lot of people were unhappy with Matt Damon being cast as the lead in the upcoming film The Great Wall.

I actually think that Asian-Americans are less recognised by the Academy than African Americans are. The only Asian-American woman to win an acting award at the Oscars was Miyoshi Umeki for her role in Sayonara. Likewise, Ang Lee is the only Asian filmmaker to ever win best director.

Regardless of whether the Academy shows recognition to either African or Asian-Americans, it is clear that they predominantly show recognition to Americans. The biggest award is “Best Picture,” which are mostly American. Foreign films, on the other hand, are in a completely separate category. At the Oscars last year, Chris Rock said, “if you want black nominees every year, you need to just have black categories...you already do it with men and women...think about it. There is no real reason for there to be a man and a woman category in acting...it’s not track and field.”

One could argue the same with foreign films. Additionally, foreign films are rarely advertised on television channels. Meanwhile, several American films nominated for awards are advertised very frequently. Then again, it all goes down to marketing. Only on occasion does the Academy squeeze in foreign contenders into the best picture category. In the 2011/2012 season, The Artist won best picture and best actor Jean Dujardin. In the 2012/2013 season, Amour was nominated for best picture, but of course Argo won, and Amour won best foreign film. Amour was also nominated for best director, Michael Haneke.

The recognition of foreign films by the academy outside the best foreign film category is reflected more in the acting categories than it is in the directing categories:

• Isabelle Huppert (France). This year, Isabelle Huppert is nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in Elle.
• Marion Cotillard won the Oscar for best-leading actress in 2008 for her role as Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose. Two years ago, she was nominated again for her role in Two Days One Night.
• Emmanuelle Riva (France). In the 2012/2013 Oscar season, Emmanuelle Riva was nominated for her role in Amour, but of course lost to Jennifer Lawrence, a modern American female icon.
• Penelope Cruz (Spain). In the 2006/2007 Oscar season, Penelope Cruz was nominated for her role in Pedro Almodovar’s critically acclaimed Volver. In the 2008/2009 season, she won for Woody Allen’s sexually suggestive comedy Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Additionally, several magazines rank her as one of the sexiest women in the world. I love Penelope Cruz, but Viola Davis should have won that year for her role in Doubt. If Penelope Cruz should have won for anything, it would be her performance in Volver. However, Cruz won Best Actress for Volver at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006. That is an even bigger accomplishment.
• Sophia Loren (Italy). In 1962, Sophia Loren won best supporting actress for Two Women. In 1964, she was nominated for Vittorio Di Sica's Marriage Italian Style.
• Catherine Deneuve (France). In the 1992/1993 award season, Indochine won best foreign film, and Catherine Deneuve was nominated for best actress. However, Deneuve lost to Emma Thompson for her role in Howard’s End.
• Liv Ullmann (Sweden). Liv Ullmann was nominated for two Oscars. In the 1972/1973 award season, she was nominated for Jan Troell’s The Emigrants. In the 1976/1977 award season, she was nominated for best actress in Ingmar Bergman’s Face to Face.
• Berenice Bejo (France/Argentina). The French-Argentine actress was nominated for best supporting actress for her role in The Artist in the 2011/2012 Oscar season, but she lost to Octavia Spencer.

Why nominate European actresses? Many American films glorify European countries and associate European women with “love.” Perhaps the Academy nominating European actresses is not acknowledging foreign talent at all, but rather emphasising American beatification of European women. This is especially the case with actresses from Spain, France, and Italy, the homes of the “romance” languages.

The Academy aims to be “diverse,” but diversity goes beyond nominating African-Americans as well as Caucasians. The Academy has shown recognition to African-Americans, but what about Africans from Africa? Personally, I have never liked the term “African-American.” First of all, not all black people are from Africa. Several black people are from Haiti, and Haitians are darker skin than many Africans. Secondly, when a lot of people talk about Africa, they refer to it as if it were one giant country rather than a whole continent with multiple countries including but not limited to Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, etc. American news channels portray Africa as extremely poor. Undoubtedly, there are many poor parts of Africa. However, similar to America, Europe, and Asia, films are made in Africa. Only three African films won best foreign language film: Z (Algeria), Black and White in Color (Ivory Coast), and Tsotsi (South Africa). In the 2014/2015 Oscar season, the Mauritanian film Timbuktu was nominated for best foreign film, but it lost to the Polish film Ida. Most of the best foreign language film winners are European, and the “majorities” in the United States are European. This is not to say, however, that films should be awarded based on the country they are from. Awards should be given by merit.

This brings me to the Best Animated Film category. The award for best-animated film almost always goes to an American film. Each year, the nominees for best-animated film typically include one or two major Disney movies, an animated film made by either Dreamworks or Illumination entertainment, and one or two indie foreign animated films that are rarely ever awarded. It is almost as if these animated films are only nominated to fill slots. As much as I love Pixar, I would love to see the Academy show recognition to films other than the ones made by Disney and Pixar. There are some excellent foreign animated films that lost to Disney films. In the 2013/2014 Oscar season, the adorable French film Ernest & Celestine lost to Frozen. The year after, the Irish animated film Song of the Sea lost to Big Hero 6. However, in the 2002/2003 Oscar season, the Japanese anime classic Spirited Away beat Ice Age and Lilo and Stitch. As much as I love all three of these films, Spirited Away was the most deserving. I think what happened here was that because Ice Age and Lilo and Stitch were so popular with all the marketing and toys, they cancelled each other out in votes. I think there is a possibility of a similar situation happening this year at the Oscars in the Best Animated Film category. There are three equally popular animated Disney films that are likely contenders: Zootopia, Finding Dory, and Moana. Finding Dory was not nominated by the Golden Globes, but the likelihood of it getting nominated by the Academy is still possible. The foreign animated films that could get nominated are The Red Turtle (Netherlands) and My Life as a Zucchini (Switzerland). I have been dying to see The Red Turtle since the summer. The Dutch film won the Un Certain Regard-Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Moreover, because Zootopia, Finding Dory, and Moana are all equally popular, they could cancel each other out and the award for best-animated film could go to either The Red Turtle or My Life as a Zucchini.

If the Academy really desires to be diverse this year, then some “ideal” nominees could be the list below. Please note that some of these category lists exceed 5 because I had trouble narrowing down potential recipients. Secondly, I have not seen all of these movies. However, I have done research based on what was at festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, etc. This list also includes actors from the nine shortlisted foreign films as well as the directors and screenwriters who made them.

Best Actor

Casey Affleck for Manchester By the Sea (USA)

Jesper Christensen for The King’s Choice (Norway)

Mungau Dain for Tanna (Australia)

Adam Driver for Paterson (USA)

Colin Farrell for The Lobster (Greece/USA)

Gael Garcia Bernal for Neruda (Chile)

Ryan Gosling for La La Land (USA)

Shahab Hosseini for The Salesman (Iran)

Dave Johns for I, Daniel Blake (England)

Rolf Lassgard for A Man Called Ove (Sweden)

Roland Moller for Land of Mine (Denmark/Germany)

Best Actress

Amy Adams for Arrival (USA)

Oulaya Amamra for Divines (France)

Sandra Huller for Toni Erdmann ( Germany)

Isabelle Huppert for Elle (France)

Kim Min-hee for The Handmaiden (South Korea)

Ruth Negga for Loving (USA)

Emma Stone for La La Land (USA)

Emma Suarez for Julieta (Spain)

Julia Vysotskaya for Paradise (Russia)

Marie Wawa for Tanna (Australia)

Adriana Ugarte for Julieta (Spain)

Best Supporting Actor

Mahershala Ali for Moonlight (USA)

Jeff Bridges for Hell or High Water (USA)

Vincent Cassel for It’s Only the End of the World (Canada)

Louis Hofmann for Land of Mine (Germany/Denmark)

Lucas Hedges for Manchester By the Sea (USA)

Laurent Lafitte for Elle (France)

Peter Simonischek for Toni Erdmann (Germany)

Best Supporting Actress

Taraneh Alidoosti for The Salesman (Iran)

Golshifteh Farahani for Paterson (USA)

Naomie Harris for Moonlight (USA)

Deborah Lukumuena for Divines (France)

Hayley Squires for I, Daniel Blake (England)

Michelle Williams for Manchester By the Sea (USA)

Best Director

Maren Ade for Toni Erdmann (Germany)

Uda Benyamina for Divines (France)

Damien Chazelle for La La Land (USA)

Bentley Dean and Matthew Butler for Tanna (Australia)

Asghar Farhadi for The Salesman (Iran)

Jim Jarmusch for Paterson (USA)

Barry Jenkins for Moonlight (USA)

Ken Loach for I, Daniel Blake (England)

Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester By the Sea (USA)

Best Original Screenplay

Maren Ade for Toni Erdmann (Germany)

Andrea Arnold for American Honey (USA/England)

Damien Chazelle for La La Land (USA)

Jim Jarmusch for Paterson (USA)

Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou for The Lobster (Greece/USA)

Ken Loach for I, Daniel Blake (England)

Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester By the Sea (USA)

Cristi Puiu for Sieranevada (Romania)

Taylor Sheridan for Hell or High Water (USA)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Pedro Almodovar for Julieta (Spain)

David Birke for Elle (France)

Asghar Farhadi for The Salesman (Iran)

Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney for Moonlight (USA)

Seo-kyeong Jeong and Park Chan-Wook for The Handmaiden (South Korea)

This year, the Academy has invited many new members from several countries around the world. They even invited filmmakers whose films have been at Cannes including but not limited to Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, Dogtooth), two-time Palme d’Or winner Ken Loach (I Daniel Blake, The Wind that Shakes the Barley), and Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien, winner of best director at the 2015 Cannes film festival for The Assassin. Hopefully, a variety of films will be recognised. Regardless, as rewarding as it is, I do not believe that actors and filmmakers have to receive Academy Awards for their films in order to prove their worth. Even getting a nomination alone is an honour. Even if these Cannes films are not recognised by the Academy, the filmmakers and actors involved with the films have already made an accomplishment by having their films at Cannes. Winning Palme d’Or at Cannes is the biggest achievement a filmmaker can accomplish being that Cannes is international and the Academy Awards is American. Nevertheless, even if a film does not win anything at Cannes, just being shown or nominated at Cannes is an accomplishment.

Nonetheless, I still think it would be nice for the Academy to show more recognition to foreign films because America, after all, is the "melting-pot" of many ethnicities.