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And the Oscar goes to...
It's a task made more difficult by the strict rules laid out by the Academy. For example, according to the Academy Standards Handbook, members are required to screen Best Documentary and Foreign Language pictures in a theatrical setting, not at home. It all adds to the hype, suspense and secrecy, which have become integral parts of the Oscars.
• Founded in 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization with over 6,000 members. Its mandate is the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures.
• There are 52 voting Academy members in Canada. (2005)
• Mary Pickford was Canada's first Academy Award winner. She won the Best Actress award for her role in the movie Coquette (1929).
• For a list of past Canadian Oscar winners visit: CBC News Online: Canada and the Oscars
• The first Academy Awards were handed out on May 16, 1929, in a low-key affair. Two hundred seventy guests attended.
• Membership to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is by invitation only. The Academy represents 14 branches including: actors, art directors, cinematographers, directors, documentary, executives, film editors, music, producers, public relations, short films and feature animation, sound, visual effects and writers.
• In order to qualify for the Academy Awards, a film has to open in the previous calendar year (from midnight Jan. 1 to midnight Dec. 31) in Los Angeles.
• The golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, is better known as the Oscar.
• The Oscar nickname is attributed to Academy librarian Margaret Herrick, who said the statuette resembled her Uncle Oscar.
• The Oscar statuette depicts a knight holding a sword, standing on a reel of film.
• The statuette is cast in bronze and plated in 24 karat gold. It weighs 4 kilograms and stands 34 centimetres tall.
• Some 50 Oscars are ordered each year since no one, not even the Academy, knows how many statuettes will be handed out until the sealed envelopes are opened at the ceremony.
Program: The World This Weekend
Broadcast Date: Feb. 26, 2005
Guest(s): David Lee, Jeff Sackman
Reporter: Marsha Lederman
Duration: 5:08
Last updated: April 2, 2012
Page consulted on April 3, 2013
All Clips from this Topic
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In the cutting room with one of Canada's most celebrated filmmakers.
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The worst dressed list creator critiques Oscar fashions.
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A look back at the life of Norman McLaren.
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The Quebec director on his strict Catholic upbringing.
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Innovative Westcam camera technology wins Canada an Oscar.
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Watson Lake, Yukon celebrates its own Academy Awards.
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The 11-year-old Winnipegger catapults her uncle into the limelight.
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An Oscar nod to Canadian filmmakers and films.
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Chippewa residents give the Oscar winning director the red-carpet trea...
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The Edmonton native receives the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
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The Academy recognizes Canada's Alias/Wavefront and its innovative May...
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The Canadian director on being nominated for his third Oscar.
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The three-time nominated director chases the golden statuette.
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Glowing in the aftermath of Barbarian Invasions' Oscar win.
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A behind the scenes look at how the Academy votes.
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It's Hollywood's biggest night. The Academy Awards are the most import...