Actress Sakura Ando, Director Shunji Iwai Invited to Join Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

By Kayo Goto / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

16:57 JST, June 29, 2023

LOS ANGELES — Actress Sakura Ando and director Shunji Iwai have been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, according to an announcement released Wednesday.

The academy has invited 398 people to join the organization, the announcement said. Members are eligible to vote for the Academy Awards.

Ando, 37, has been recognized for her roles in “A Man,” which won eight awards at the Japan Academy Film Prize, and for “Shoplifters,” which won the Palme d’Or, the highest award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Iwai, 60, has directed films such as “Vampire” and “Swallowtail Butterfly.”

Also among this year’s invitees are Kazuo Ishiguro, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017, and popular U.S. singer Taylor Swift.