US Oscar-Voting Panel Chooses its First South African

Well-known South African casting director Moonyeenn Lee is the first South African to be included on the panel of movie people around the world who will chose the next Oscar winners.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, which presides over the annual Oscars, named its 683 new panel members last week. It has been a controversial year for the Academy, after it was accused of being too white and too male, and the Academy president promised before this year’s award ceremony that a more diverse group of people would be included in the new panel.

The new invitees, going by a scan of the names, look much more diverse, with more women and people of colour, but also people from other countries.

Lee has been a casting director in South Africa for more than four decades, and has been involved in major movies such as “Avengers, Age of Ultron” and “Blood Diamonds”.

The list of newbies on the panel, who will be inducted in a ceremony later this year, include directors, actors, cinematographers, documentary makers and makeup artists, among other professionals. The list includes names such as actors Idris Elba, Brie Larson (“Room”) and Dakota Johnson (“50 Shades of Grey”); directors Ken Loach and James Wan (“The Conjuring”).