Irish filmmakers including Lenny Abrahamson and John Crowley and author Emma Donoghue have been invited to become members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as the Oscars organisers reveal their 683-strong 'Class of 2016'.
In their new roles as part of the Academy's 6,000-plus members the Irish invitees will be able to vote for Oscar nominees each year.
Room director Abrahamson and author Donoghue were among this year's Oscar nominees, while Crowley's film Brooklyn was included alongside Room on the Best Picture shortlist.
Lenny Abrahamson on set with Best Actress Oscar winner Brie Larson and her co-star, Jacob Tremblay
They are joined in the Class of 2016 by Abrahamson's longtime editor, Nathan Nugent, Room's Oscar-nominated producer Ed Guiney and director Nora Twomey, who was shortlisted for the Best Animated Feature Oscar in 2010 when she co-directed The Secret of Kells with Tomm Moore - another Academy member.
The Irish makers of two Oscar-winning shorts have also been invited to join the Academy: Benjamin Cleary, who won the Academy Award this year for Stutterer; and Orlagh George, who won in 2012 for The Shore.
Stutterer writer-director Benjamin Cleary receiving his Oscar with producer Serena Armitage
The Academy has invited a number of Irish people in recent years to join including actors Michael Fassbender, Cillian Murphy and Saoirse Ronan, U2's Bono, producer Finola Dwyer and casting director Ros Hubbard.
After controversy about the lack of racial diversity among Oscar nominees in 2015 and 2016, and ongoing criticism that membership is overwhelmingly male and white, the Academy's Class of 2016 is 46 percent female with 41 percent of invitees non-white.
With new invitees included, 27 percent of Academy members are women and 11 percent are non-white. At this year's Oscars host Chris Rock skewered the Academy in his monologues for its lack of black nominees.
Among 2016's other invitees are Oscar winners Brie Larson and Alicia Vikander, Star Wars duo John Boyega and Oscar Isaac, Idris Elba, Tom Hiddleston, O'Shea 'Ice Cube' Jackson, Emma Watson and Freida Pinto.
I got in! Excited to use my vote to nominate talent that reflects the real world we live in - DIVERSITY. https://t.co/PUzUkXe7MM
— Brie Larson (@brielarson) June 29, 2016
