Sweeping Oscars Changes: Academy Says No to AI, Opens International Film Eligibility, Allows Multiple Acting Nods in Same Category
The Academy’s Board of Governors has approved awards rules, inclusion standards and campaign promotional regulations for the 99th Academy Awards, including pushing back on AI and sweeping changes to the International Feature Film category and opens the door for actors to be nominated for multiple performances in the same category.
On the AI front, the Board has ruled that only roles credited in the film’s legal billing and demonstrably performed by humans with their consent will be considered eligible. Meaning, no AI version of Val Kilmer or Tilly Norwoods would be allowed to infiltrate the Oscars as nominees. The anti-AI push will also extend to writing categories where the rules codified that screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible. Under Eligibility (Rule Two) regarding Generative Artificial Intelligence, the Academy has also reserved the right to request more information about the nature of the use and human authorship.
In the Acting categories, actors may be nominated for multiple performances in the same category if those performances place in the top five votes, which aligns with achievements in other award categories. This is a seismic change to not just eligibility but to possibility avoid both what’s referred to as “category fraud” (positioning a lead performance in supporting for greater possibility, especially with internal competition) but also when an actor has more than one performance of note in a given year. Two of the biggest examples in the current era have been Kate Winslet in The Reader and Revolutionary Road (both 2008), where she was submitted and won supporting actress for The Reader at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild, won the Globe in lead for Road then won Best Actress at the Oscars for The Reader, and Leonardo DiCaprio in 2006 with Best Picture winner The Departed, where he was not nominated for that performance but instead for Blood Diamond. Unlike the Globes and SAG though, actors aren’t submitted in a specific category, that’s still up to the voters to decide and a performer could still split their own vote between the lead and supporting categories and not having enough in either to make the final five. This rule change now puts the acting categories on the same playing field as other categories, where no limitation is in place for an individual to earn multiple nominations in a single virtue.
In the International Feature Film category, it is now eligible for a single country to have more than one nomination as there are now two ways to submit a film for consideration. In addition to a film being submitted as an official selection by a country or region via the Academy-approved Selection Committees, a non-English language film can now be submitted for consideration by winning a qualifying award at an international film festival as specified in the International Feature Film Award Qualifying Festival List. Qualifying festivals for the 99th Oscars are the Berlin International Film Festival (Golden Bear for Best Film), Busan International Film Festival (Busan Award – Best Film Award), Cannes Film Festival (Palme d’Or), Sundance Film Festival (World Cinema Grand Jury Prize), Toronto International Film Festival (Platform Award) and Venice International Film Festival (Golden Lion). With the Cannes and Toronto film festivals in the future for this eligibility, that would make Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic winner Shame and Money and Berlin Golden Bear winner Yellow Letters eligible regardless if they’re chosen by a specific country or not.
Originally created for the 29th Academy Awards (representing the films of 1956), then called Best Foreign Language Film, the category has been dominated by European entries: out of the 77 awards handed out by the academy since 1947 to foreign language films, 59 have gone to European films, nine to Asian films, six to films from the Americas and three to African films.
Additionally, in the International Feature Film category, the film will be credited as the nominee rather than the country or region, and the award will be accepted by the director on behalf of the film’s creative team. The director’s name will be listed on the statuette plaque after the film title and, if applicable, the country or region.
For Academy Awards consideration, a feature film must have a qualifying theatrical release between January 1, 2026, and December 31, 2026.
In the new Casting category, which had its first edition this year (where One Battle After Another won), the number of statuettes awarded will increase from a maximum of two to a maximum of three statuettes.
In the Cinematography category, which made a return to the shortlist, the preliminary voting round will produce a shortlist of 20 films rather than 10-20.
In the Makeup and Hairstyling category, Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch members must attend at least one of the two final branch meetings (roundtables) to be eligible to vote in the preliminary round.
In the Original Song category, the rules clarify a song’s eligibility when based on its placement in the end credits. For songs submitted as the first new music cue once the end credits begin, the video clip must include the last 15 seconds of the film before the credits begin.
In the Visual Effects category, all Academy members must view the three-minute Before and After reels from the Visual Effects Bake-Off to be eligible to vote in the final round.
For Governors Awards recipients, a minimum of three disciplines must be represented in a given Awards year.
Awards submission deadlines and additional key dates are as follows:
Thursday, August 13, 2026: First submission deadline for Animated Short Film, Documentary Feature Film, Documentary Short Film and Live Action Short Film categories
Thursday, September 17, 2026: First submission deadline for General Entry categories, Animated Feature Film, Best Picture and Representation and Inclusion Standards Entry (RAISE) form
Wednesday, September 30, 2026: Submission deadline for International Feature Film
Thursday, October 8, 2026: Final submission deadline for Animated Short Film, Documentary Short Film and Live Action Short Film categories
Wednesday, October 14, 2026: Submission deadline for Music (Original Song)
Thursday, October 15, 2026: Final submission deadline for Documentary Feature Film
Wednesday, November 4, 2026: Submission deadline for Music (Original Score)
Thursday, November 12, 2026: Final submission deadline for General Entry categories, Animated Feature Film, Best Picture and Representation and Inclusion Standards Entry (RAISE) form
January 8 – 10, 2027: Casting, Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound and Visual Effects voting events (bake-offs)
The Academy also updated and clarified formatting and language in the campaign promotional regulations for the 99th Oscars. The campaign promotional regulations specify how motion picture companies and individuals directly associated with Oscars-eligible motion pictures may promote such motion pictures, achievements and performances to Academy members and how Academy members may promote Oscars-eligible motion pictures, achievements and performances.
Substantive changes to the campaign promotional regulations include:
Screenings with Q&A sessions or panel discussions before nominations may now have up to two moderators instead of one moderator.
All eblasts and FYC calendar entries sent to Academy members via an Academy-approved mailing house from a motion picture company, individual associated with an eligible motion picture or Qualifying Film Festival must include an email address or phone number contact for inquiries regarding how members may request accessibility and disability needs or if the theater hosting the screening has proper accommodations.
Awards Rules are formulated by the Awards Committee based on recommendations by Branch Executive Committees, the International Feature Film Executive Committee, and the Scientific and Technical Awards Executive Committee, and are subject to final approval by the Board of Governors.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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