Another year, another list of snubbed Academy Award nominees.
Whether you think the Oscars is still relevant or not, it’s impossible to deny how important the award show is to both the industry and pop culture at large. For many who work in movies, winning an Academy Award is the pinnacle of filmmaking. There is literally no higher honour.
Film analysts look to the other award shows that lead up to the Oscars to make their predictions, but every year, there will always be surprises. While some are welcome, including Charlotte Rampling’s first Academy Award nomination for 45 Years, others are far more painful for all the dedicated cinephiles out there.
The problem is that those who vote for the list of nominees are mainly drawn from a very specific demographic i.e. old, white men from America, which has led to laughably predictable nominations and snubs over the years that fail to reflect the diversity of real life cinema-goers.
While award shows like these are undoubtedly subjective to a degree, the nominees list for the 88th Academy Awards has overlooked or even deliberately ignored some of the finest filmmaking of 2015. So, join us as we count down 10 particularly painful snubs that surprised us all.