Sound editors to go on silent protest at Oscars

Oscar-winning Indian sound artiste Resul Pookutty is among a dozen of sound designers, engineers and mixers, who have signed a petition protesting the Academy’s decision to award the sound Oscar during its pre-telecast hour on Sunday.

A source close to the sound branch also revealed that guild members are planning on wearing their guild badges upside down as a form of silent protest over the demotion of crafts at the Oscars. In a statement, Urban said, “This weekend, the Oscars may be turned upside down as we may see winners from all categories accept their Oscars upside down in a silent show of solidarity with the eight affected categories. We are all filmmakers of equal importance. As a community of sound artists, we respectfully disagree and are opposed to the changes that are being made for the broadcast of the 94th Oscars ceremony,” says the group’s letter to Academy President David Rubin and ABC. Filmmakers James Cameron, Jane Campion and Guillermo Del Toro have also spoken out about the reformatting decision.