This year's Oscars become the first to implement new diversity rules

ITV News' Arts Editor Nina Nannar spoke to Cord Jefferson, whose film American Fiction is nominated for best film at this year's Oscars

The 2024 Oscars are the first to implement new diversity rules.

The films in the running for best picture must have met two of the four new standards that include at least 30% of actors being from at least two underrepresented groups (including women, race, ethnicity, sexuality and disability), and the main storyline, theme, or narrative must be centered on at least one of the aforementioned groups.

Out of the 10 best picture nominees, four are in part or totally in a foreign language - including British entry The Zone of Interest.

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The Holdovers' Da'Vine Joy Randolph is widely-tipped for the best actress award at the Oscars this year. Credit: AP

The new diversity and inclusion rules coming into force this year appear to have yielded results - American Fiction, a satire about racial politics, has five nominations in all, including one for best film.

But its director, Cord Jefferson, told ITV News' Arts Editor Nina Nannar that even after 2015's viral hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, the change remains slow-moving.

"I don't think that we are anywhere near where we need to be to get actual equity for people of colour in this industry but things are getting better," he said.

"I think the fact that there was a group of people willing to give me millions of dollars to make this movie, I think is evidence of the fact that things are changing a little bit."

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Anatomy of a Fall's Justine Triet is the only woman nominated for best director at the Oscars. Credit: AP

This year's Academy Awards are also being hailed as the first time two openly LGBTQ+ actors have been nominated for playing gay characters, Colman Domingo in Rustin and two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster in Nyad.

Most categories this year include at least one person from an underrepresented group, with almost a third of nominees women - a three-year high.

However, when it comes to best director, only eight women have ever had a nomination.

Justine Triet, for Anatomy of a Fall, is the only woman nominated this year.

The Academy Awards ceremony will air from midnight ITV and ITVX on March 11 in the UK.

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