69 People Invited To Join Academy’s Animation And VFX Branches

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited 397 film industry figures to join its ranks as part of the class of 2022. Seventeen per cent of those people have been invited to the Short Films & Feature Animation and Visual Effects branches of the Academy.

According to the Academy, membership selection is based on professional qualifications with an ongoing commitment to representation, inclusion, and equity remaining a priority. The 2022 class is composed of 44% women, 37% belong to underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and 50% are from 53 countries and territories outside the United States.

But one group that’s conspicuously absent from the invitees to this year’s animation branch: Asian filmmakers and animation artists.

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 25% of the Oscar-qualified animated features in the last three years have originated from Asia, which makes it all the more surprising that the Academy has not made any kind of effort to increase Asian representation in its organization. In this three-year stretch during which Asian animated films have been submitted to The Academy at a record pace, no fully-Asian animated features have been nominated for the Oscar.

Below is the complete list of invitees to the Short Films & Feature Animation and Visual Effects branches. We have also included the invitees to the Writer’s branch who have feature animation credits. The Academy groups live-action short filmmakers and feature animation filmmakers in the same department, so that list includes several people who have not worked in animation.

Short Films and Feature Animation

• Murad Abu Eisheh – Tala’vision, Ta Hariri
• Olivier Adam – Sing 2, Minions
• Michael Arias – Harmony, Tekkonkinkreet
• Evren Boisjoli – Fauve, What Remains
• Maria Brendle – Ala Kachuu – Take and Run, The Stowaway
• Sean Buckelew – Drone, Hopkins & Delaney LLP
• Olivier Calvert – Bad Seeds, Animal Behaviour
• Enrico Casarosa – Luca, La Luna
• Karla Castañeda – La Noria (The Waterwheel), Jacinta
• Hugo Covarrubias – Bestia, The Night Upside Down
• D. Dávila – Please Hold, Emergency
• Charlotte De La Gournerie – Flee, Terra Incognita
• Luc Desmarchelier – The Bad Guys, Open Season
• Anton Dyakov – Boxballet, Vivat Musketeers!
• Brian Falconer – Saul & I, Boogaloo and Graham
• Youssef Joe Haidar – Scoob!, Animated American
• Andy Harkness – Vivo, Get a Horse!
• Pierre Hébert – Thunder River, Memories of War
• Aneil Karia – The Long Goodbye, Work
• Brooke Keesling – Meatclown, Boobie Girl
• Nadine Lüchinger – Ala Kachuu – Take and Run, Puppenspiel (Puppet Play)
• Tadeusz Łysiak – The Dress, Techno
• Joe Mateo – Blush, Big Hero 6
• Sharon Maymon – Skin, Summer Vacation
• Kathleen McInnis – Mama, Downturn
• Yvett Merino – Encanto, Wreck-It Ralph
• Alberto Mielgo – The Windshield Wiper, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• Les Mills – Affairs of the Art, The Canterbury Tales
• Jetzabel Moreno Hernández – The Followers, Plums and Green Smoke
• Dan Ojari – Robin Robin, Slow Derek
• Brian Pimental – Tarzan, A Goofy Movie
• Mikey Please – Robin Robin, The Eagleman Stag
• Erin Ramos – Encanto, Frozen II
• Mike Rianda – The Mitchells vs. the Machines
• Doug Roland – Feeling Through, A Better Way
• Leo Sanchez – The Windshield Wiper, Over the Moon
• Marc J. Scott – The Boss Baby: Family Business, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
• Sarah Smith – Ron’s Gone Wrong, Arthur Christmas
• Daniel Šuljić – From Under Which Rock Did They Crawl Out, The Cake
• Conrad Vernon – The Addams Family, Shrek 2
• Pamela Ziegenhagen-Shefland – Abominable, The Emperor’s New Groove

Visual Effects

• Ivy Agregan – India Sweets and Spices, Wakefield
• Geeta Basantani – Spider-Man: No Way Home, Vivo
• Aharon Bourland – Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Venom
• Ivan Busquets – Malignant, The Irishman
• Joe Ceballos – Skyscraper, Thor: Ragnarok
• Richard Anthony Clegg – The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, Blade Runner 2049
• Mark Curtis – Sully, Spectre
• Markus Degen – The King’s Man, Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• Jack Edjourian – Top Gun: Maverick, Tenet
• Eric Enderton – Shark Tale, Jurassic Park
• Marcos Fajardo Orellana – Thor, Monster House
• Joel Green – No Time to Die, The Kid Who Would Be King
• Earl Hibbert – The Fate of the Furious, Guardians of the Galaxy
• Hayley Hubbard – The Old Guard, Dumbo
• Maia Kayser – Rango, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
• Garrett Lam – Limbo, Shock Wave 2
• Jake Maymudes – Dune, Terminator: Dark Fate
• Catherine Ann Mullan – Dumbo, Maleficent
• Charlie Noble – No Time to Die, Wonder Woman 1984
• Alan Scott – Finch, The Lost World: Jurassic Park
• Tefft Smith – Alice through the Looking Glass, Tomorrowland
• Alan Travis – Black Widow, The Irishman
• Michael Van Eps – Deepwater Horizon, Poseidon
• Sean Noel Walker – Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Black Widow
• Vernon Wilbert – Stealth, I, Robot
• Eric Jay Wong – Avengers: Age of Ultron, Lucy
• Kevin Wooley – Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Jurassic World
• Wei Zheng – Mank, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Writers with Feature Animation Credits

• Michael Grais – Cool World, Poltergeist
• Mike Jones – Luca, Soul
• Adele Lim – Raya and the Last Dragon, Crazy Rich Asians
• Adam Rifkin – Giuseppe Makes a Movie, Small Soldiers
• Jordan Roberts – Big Hero 6, 3, 2, 1…Frankie Go Boom
• Mark A. Victor – Cool World, Poltergeist