--- title: Here Are Some Potential Reasons Why 'Selma' Keeps Getting Snubbed description: Three pre-Oscar awards without a nod could harm the film's chances at an Oscar canonical: https://time.com/3666414/selma-snub-awards/ author: Rachel Janik article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-14T21:21:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:32:57.855Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Here Are Some Possible Reasons Why 'Selma' Keeps Getting Snubbed og:description: Three pre-Oscar awards without a nod could harm the film's chances at an Oscar og:url: https://time.com/3666414/selma-snub-awards/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9d03a4545a557d4/698777d135ba6f63adc06447/selma-the-movie.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Colman Domingo, David Oyelowo, André Holland and Stephan James in Selma. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here Are Some Possible Reasons Why 'Selma' Keeps Getting Snubbed twitter:description: Three pre-Oscar awards without a nod could harm the film's chances at an Oscar twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9d03a4545a557d4/698777d135ba6f63adc06447/selma-the-movie.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here Are Some Possible Reasons Why _Selma_ Keeps Getting Snubbed by [Rachel Janik](https://time.com/author/rachel-janik/) ## Rachel Janik Jan 14, 2015 9:21 PM UTC  Colman Domingo, David Oyelowo, André Holland and Stephan James in Selma. Colman Domingo, David Oyelowo, André Holland and Stephan James in Selma.Atsushi Nishijima—Paramount Pictures by [Rachel Janik](https://time.com/author/rachel-janik/) ## Rachel Janik Jan 14, 2015 9:21 PM UTC The Directors Guild’s list of nominees for top honors this year included some of the usual suspects — favorites this award season including _The Grand Budapest Hotel,_ _Birdman_ and _Boyhood._ But one film was conspicuously absent. Despite nearly universal praise from critics ([including TIME’s Richard Corliss](http://www.time.com/3651009/review-selma-1965-2014/)) and nominations from the Spirit Awards and the Golden Globes, the Martin Luther King Jr. biopic _Selma_ and its director Ava DuVernay seem to have been snubbed again. The [Screen Actors Guild](http://www.sagawards.org/awards/nominees-and-recipients/21st-annual-screen-actors-guild-awards), which released its nominees last month, left _Selma_ out of every category. A week ago, the Producers Guild of America struck another blow to the historical drama’s Oscar hopes when _Selma_ failed to make the cut of its 10-film list. Given that the winners of the three guild awards are often seen as good predictors of who will win at the Academy Awards, it begs the question—_what_, exactly, is going on? **MORE** [Why You Should Care That _Selma_ Gets LBJ Wrong](http://time.com/3658593/selma-lbj-history/) Some observers have pointed to [racism or sexism ](http://www.blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/an-oscar-nominated-director-gets-real)affecting the decision, claims that can’t be altogether discounted. A nomination for DuVernay would have made her the only woman on the all-male list of nominees, and [The Celluloid Ceiling](http://www.womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/files/2014%5FCelluloid%5FCeiling%5FReport.pdf), an annual report on women working behind the camera in cinema, shows an alarming gender disparity in the industry that has not improved since the study began in 1998. Some, like Peniel Joseph, a history professor at Tufts University, have argued that the recent backlash against the film for its supposed [misrepresentation of Lyndon Johnson](http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-movie-selma-has-a-glaring-historical-inaccuracy/2014/12/26/70ad3ea2-8aa4-11e4-a085-34e9b9f09a58%5Fstory.html) is an attempt by white viewers to maintain control over the Civil Rights narrative. “The real problem many critics have with this film is that it’s too black and too strong,” [he writes](http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2015/01/10/376081786/selma-backlash-misses-the-point) in an op-ed for NPR. “Our popular reimagining of the civil rights movement is that it’s something we all did together and the battle is over; that’s just not true.” DuVernay herself responded to claims of historical inaccuracy on Twitter. “Everyone sees history through their own lens and I don’t begrudge anyone from wanting to see what they want to see,” the 42-year-old director said. “This is what I see. This is what we see. And that should be valid.” **MORE** [_Selma_‘s Real Story: Read 1965 Reports From the March](http://time.com/3636426/selmas-movie-mlk-articles/) But the explanation that has emerged most frequently for _Selma’_s lack of nods in recent weeks is the production team’s failure to send [screeners](http://www.variety.com/2015/film/news/selmas-guild-rebuff-can-studios-afford-to-skip-screeners-1201403996/) to the guild voters. Though award shows encourage voters to see the films on the big screen, [many rely on delivered DVD copies to keep up](http://www.variety.com/2015/film/awards/selma-misses-pga-nomination-after-another-screener-lapse-1201392728/). [_Variety_ reports](http://www.variety.com/2015/film/news/selmas-guild-rebuff-can-studios-afford-to-skip-screeners-1201403996/) that Paramount, _Selma’_s production company, decided to send screeners to the BAFTAs and the Oscars this year, but not to the guilds. Representatives from Paramount said that the decision was based on time constraints, and that similar decisions had to be made with last year’s _The Wolf of Wall Street_. Historically, the Oscars have been held in late March or early April, but now that the ceremony has shifted a month earlier into the year, all the preliminary awards—and the deadlines—shifted, too. With _Selma_’s release in recent weeks, preparing screeners (a long process that requires special watermarking to deter online leaks) for the minor ceremonies proved impossible. Paramount received _Selma_ on Nov. 26, _Variety’_s report states, and the winners for the SAGs were announced only two weeks later. How much does this affect _Selma’_s chance at a Best Picture nomination? That depends. In the past, both the SAGs and the PGAs have been heavy indicators of Oscar nominees and winners. The voting body of the SAGs overlaps a lot with the Academy, and the PGAs’ nominees have included the Best Picture winner every year since 1995. But there is some good news for _Selma_ _:_ ever since the Best Picture list grew from five to 10, at least one nominee failed to make the PGA cut. With that, coupled with all the conversation it has been generating, _Selma_’s Oscar hopes are definitely still alive. _Read next:_ [_How_ ](http://time.com/3645651/how-selma-reclaims-hollywoods-sanitized-versions-of-martin-luther-king-jr/?xid=time%5Freadnext)[Selma](http://time.com/3645651/how-selma-reclaims-hollywoods-sanitized-versions-of-martin-luther-king-jr/?xid=time%5Freadnext)[ _Reclaims Hollywood’s Sanitized Versions of Martin Luther King, Jr._](http://time.com/3645651/how-selma-reclaims-hollywoods-sanitized-versions-of-martin-luther-king-jr/?xid=time%5Freadnext) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3666414/selma-snub-awards/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3666414/selma-snub-awards/"},"headline":"Here Are Some Possible Reasons Why Selma Keeps Getting Snubbed","datePublished":"2015-01-14T21:21:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:32:57.855Z","description":"The critically-acclaimed biopic only got two Oscar nominations","url":"https://time.com/3666414/selma-snub-awards/","keywords":["movies","Oscars","Academy Awards","selma","ava duvernay"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9d03a4545a557d4/698777d135ba6f63adc06447/selma-the-movie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rachel Janik","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rachel-janik/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9d03a4545a557d4/698777d135ba6f63adc06447/selma-the-movie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Colman Domingo, David Oyelowo, André Holland and Stephan James in Selma.","caption":"Colman Domingo, David Oyelowo, André Holland and Stephan James in Selma.","creditText":"Atsushi Nishijima—Paramount Pictures","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3666414/selma-snub-awards/","name":"Here Are Some Possible Reasons Why Selma Keeps Getting Snubbed"}}]}] ```