The first Oscar winners of the season are already known. Revolutionary filmmaker David Lynch, Cherokee-American actor Wes Studi, director Lina Wertmüller and actress Geena Davis will receive honorary Oscars at the Governors Awards in October, the Academy of Arts and cinema science.
Geena Davis will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her work on gender equality in the media. The 63-year-old has already won an Oscar for her performance in The Accidental Tourist and was also a finalist for Thelma & Louise.
Geena Davis
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) June 3, 2019
David Lynch
Wes Studi
Lina Wertmüller
These four filmmakers have transformed the film industry. This year, we celebrate them. #HonoraryOscars https://t.co/t5gV89q7jM
The other three honorary Oscars are intended to pay tribute to artists who have made a significant contribution to the industry but have not yet won an Oscar.
David Lynch, 73, has been nominated four times at the Oscars, including The Elephant Man , which earned him nominations for his screenplay and directing. His other nominations have been in the category of Best Achievement for Blue Velvetand Mulholland Drive .
Wes Studi, 71, has never been an Oscar finalist, but has participated in numerous Oscar-winning and award-winning films such as Dances with Wolves , The Last of the Mohicans , The New World and Geronimo: An American Legend .
At 90, Lina Wertmüller may be unfairly the least famous of the laureates, but she has made a huge breakthrough for women in the industry by becoming the first woman to win a Best Achievement nomination, thanks to movie Seven Beauties in 1976. She eventually lost to John G. Avildsen, which had won with Rocky . Only four other women have followed this nomination: Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola, Kathryn Bigelow and Greta Gerwig. Kathryn Bigelow is the only woman to win the award.
The 11 th annual ceremony will take place on October 27, a month earlier than usual, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood, just steps from where the Oscars will be awarded on February 9, 2020.