Producer Albert Berger, sound editor Mark Mangini, executive Daniel Fellman, documentary editor Kate Amend and short filmmaker Bob Rogers have been elected to the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy announced on Friday.
The five are first-time governors. The elections also returned eight sitting governors to office, including Annette Bening, writer Phil Robinson and Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, and brought back four former governors, including cinematographer Caleb Deschanel and director Edward Zwick, who defeated sitting governor Lisa Cholodenko.
Also read: Academy Sues Joseph Wright’s Heirs for Auctioning His Oscar
With Zwick replacing Cholodenko and Berger replacing Gale Anne Hurd, the number of women on the 51-member board fell to 14, one less than last year’s record total.
Of the new governors, Amend will represent the Documentary Branch, where she replaced Michael Apted. Berger was elected by the Producers Branch to fill the seat vacated by Hurd, who opted not to run again. Fellman takes the place of Robert Rehme in the Executives Branch, after Rehme was forced off the board by term limits — as was John Lasseter in the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch, where Rogers will serve. And Mangini will take the place of longtime governor Don Hall as a Sound Branch governor.
Other reelected governors are Lora Kennedy, Casting Directors Branch; Jeffrey Kurland, Costume Designers Branch; Rick Carter, Designers Branch; Michael Tronick, Film Editors Branch; and Kathryn Blondell, Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch.
See video: ‘What’s the Deal?’: Jeff Sneider’s Early Awards Season Picks – The Moscars (Video)
Returning governors also include Bill Taylor in the Visual Effects Branch and Charles Bernstein in the Music Branch.
Bernstein’s election was of particular interest, because the Music Branch has been the subject of grumbling about cronyism in recent months. David Newman, 60, the only one of the three branch governors with new film credits in the last 20 years, had to exit the board because of term limits, leaving the branch represented by 73-year-old Charles Fox and 87-year-old Arthur Hamilton.
To replace Newman, the branch chose 71-year old Bernstein over a slate that also included 46-year-old Michael Giacchino, the composer of scores for “Up,” “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and many more features. Bernstein, for the record, is still active as a film composer, though his election certainly gives the Music Branch governors the highest average age of any branch.
Last year, an unusually large crop of 10 new governors were elected to the board, largely because of the splitting of the Art Directors Branch into two branches, and the expansion of the Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch from one to three governors. This year’s slate of five new governors was more typical of recent elections.
The elections were held in June and early July by the 17 branches of the Academy, each of which are represented by three governors on the board. The governors serve staggered three-year terms, which means that one seat from each branch is open each year.
Also read: What Does the Academy’s Flurry of Changes Mean for the Oscars?
Typically, sitting governors run for re-election and are returned to the board, although a rule limiting governors to three consecutive three-year terms means that some governors, including Lasseter, Rehme and Newman, were termed out this year.
The Board of Governors is the seat of power at the Academy, with authority over everything from Oscar rules to the contracts offered AMPAS officials like CEO Dawn Hudson.
Also read: Dolby Contributes $12 Million to Academy Museum
The new board will meet for the first time on Aug. 5, when its first order of business will be to elect a president for the next year. The current president, Public Relations Branch governor Cheryl Boone Isaacs, is eligible and is expected to easily win re-election, as most sitting presidents do.
Governors who were not up for reelection and who continue on the Board are Ed Begley Jr. and Tom Hanks, Actors Branch; David Rubin and Bernard Telsey, Casting Directors Branch; John Bailey and Dante Spinotti, Cinematographers Branch; Deborah Nadoolman Landis and Judianna Makovsky, Costume Designers Branch; Jim Bissell and Jan Pascale, Designers Branch; Kathryn Bigelow and Michael Mann, Directors Branch; Rob Epstein and Alex Gibney, Documentary Branch; Dick Cook and Amy Pascal, Executives Branch; Mark Goldblatt and Lynzee Klingman, Film Editors Branch; Bill Corso and Leonard Engelman, Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch; Charles Fox and Arthur Hamilton, Music Branch; Mark Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers Branch; Rob Friedman and Nancy Utley, Public Relations Branch; Jon Bloom and Bill Kroyer, Short Films and Feature Animation Branch; Curt Behlmer and Scott Millan, Sound Branch; Richard Edlund and John Knoll, Visual Effects Branch; and Bill Condon and Robin Swicord, Writers Branch.