Tonight the Oscar winners will be announced: This is how voting works

• Which works can be nominated?

The canon is more than detailed, according to the rules of which a film is accepted for an Oscar nomination. The collection from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences comprises 40 closely described pages. All works that were shown commercially in one of six US metropolitan regions in at least one cinema for at least seven days between January 1 and December 31, 2023, were considered for this year’s award. There are exceptions for the foreign Oscar division, for example.

• Is an Austrian contribution in the running?

There will be no Austrian winners this year. There are no red-white-red candidates in the running in the various categories, which also applies to the foreign Oscar, where “Vera” by Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel did not make it onto the shortlist. Jonathan Glazer’s unusual Holocaust film adaptation “The Zone of Interest” is considered a hot favorite here.

Read more about “The Zone of Interest” here: “My Nazi haircut was brutal, I was ashamed of it”

• What about films on Netflix etc.?

Pure streaming productions are not Oscar-eligible. The works produced by Netflix & Co must also have a theatrical release at least at the same time in accordance with the stated requirements in order to potentially enter the Oscar race. And all films must be at least 40 minutes long – apart from the short film candidates.

• Who are the favorites?

With 13 nominations, the film “Oppenheimer” is this year’s Oscar favorite, the grotesque comedy “Poor Things” received eleven nominations, and “Killers of the Flower Moon” has ten chances of winning ahead of “Barbie” with eight.

Also read: Oscars 2024: The nominations at a glance

• What’s new?

Starting this year, works that are in the running for the premier category of Best Film must also, for the first time, meet mandatory diversity rules that were developed in the course of the debate under the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. Accordingly, there are four major fields, of which a film must be successful in at least two in order to be nominated.

The first pillar concerns representation on the screen. Either a main character must belong to an ethnic minority, 30 percent of the actors in supporting roles must come from at least two underrepresented groups such as women or the LGBTQ+ community, or the narrative must revolve around one of these groups. The other pillars are the creative teams behind the camera, which should also be diverse, the provision of internships and work opportunities for underrepresented groups, and diversity in the marketing or creative areas of the respective studios.

Also read: Al Pacino and Zendaya announced as Oscar presenters

• Who votes?

If all of these criteria are met, then nothing stands in the way of the big vote. Voting by the academy’s approximately 10,500 members will continue until 2 a.m. tomorrow, Wednesday. In the final round, you decide on the winner(s) in all 23 categories from camera to best film. Most of the nominations were previously chosen by individual industry representatives. There are 18 professional branches within the academy, with actors and producers making up the largest groups.

The path for a film artist to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is through an Oscar nomination, recommendations or special contributions to the film. You cannot buy membership, you are appointed. The Academy has been trying for several years to actively increase the number of minorities and women in its ranks.

• Who counts the votes?

Oscar jurors must submit their ballots by mail or online. According to old tradition, the audit company PricewaterhouseCoopers counts the votes by hand in a secret location. The closely guarded results in 23 categories will be brought directly to the gala in sealed envelopes. So that on the night of March 10th to 11th it can be said again: “And the winner is…”