Trouble at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - Sign the petition in support of sacked collecting and preservation staff

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has laid off about 16 employees, all of whom worked in the Oscar organization’s collecting and preservations departments. That amounts to about 2% of the Academy’s workforce of almost 800. The moves are the latest amid the Academy’s broader restructuring under CEO Bill Kramer, who has been streamlining operations across AMPAS’ membership and awards programs, education and emerging talent initiatives, collection and preservation initiatives, and its screenings and public programs since taking on the chief executive role in 2022.

A petition protesting the move has been posted online to protest the firing which included longtime curators and senior staff. During a Zoom conference call these employees were informed that they had been summarily fired, effective immediately. Shortly thereafter the staff members learned that their Academy email addresses had been deleted. These include Mike Pogorzelski — director of the Academy Film Archive for the last 24 years.

The petition, which already has over a thousand signatures has been organised by film industry stalwarts Dennis Doros and Amy Heller of Missing Movies and also of Milestone Films.

You can sign it if IF YOU CLICK HERE