Job´ber`nowl`-ism

Have you ever wondered what the rules and eligibilities for an Oscar award are? Now see, if you don't know what an Oscar is, I'll tell you. On your internet browser, go to the top most right side, you'll find an 'X'. Click that and get lost.

The Academy was started in 1927 for the advancement of motion pictures. Official notes might say that Oscars are meant to honour any motion picture, but basically Oscars were started as an award given to people of Hollywood by the people from Hollywood. It become famous just for the reasons why Hollywood became famous.

So is any film from any where around the world eligible to run the Oscar race. In short, Yes! Any film that as released in the Los Angeles county is eligible for an Oscar nomination. Certain conditions apply.

1. All eligible motion pictures, unless otherwise noted , must be: 

a. feature length (defined as over 40 minutes), 

b. publicly exhibited by normal means 

c. for paid admission in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County, 

d. for a qualifying run of at least seven consecutive days,  

e. advertised and exploited during their Los Angeles County qualifying run in a manner considered normal and customary to the industry, and 

f. Film should have been released during the previous Calender year.  

3. First public exhibition must be a theatrical release (Trailers allowed)

4. Motion pictures from all countries shall be eligible for the annual awards listed in Rule One, as long as they satisfy the requirements of the other applicable rules, and contain English language subtitles if released in a foreign language. 

This is just an abridged guide of the whole thing. For more detailed information on each, visit here .

One of the main advantages of it being mandatory for the film to be released in Los Angeles before it gets any award is that, at least people from Los Angeles get a chance to see the film. How many films do we get to see before getting recognised in a film festival? Ain't it better than that. Reason it being LA, is just that Hollywood is located there.

Now let me ask, are the rules and eligibility for an Indian national award?