Arts & International Affairs: Vol. 4, No. 3, Spring 2020 | Page 4

ARTS & INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS • 4.3 • WINTER 2020
ART AND CONFLICT
J.P. SINGH
Editor
academy would like to acknowledge that tonight we have gathered on the
ancestral lands of the Tongva, the Tataviam, and the Chumash. We acknowledge
them as the first peoples of this land on which the motion pictures com-
“The
munity lives and works.” These words from award winning scriptwriter Taika Waititi at
the 2020 Oscars acknowledged that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
from Hollywood, the world’s premier cinema of representations, stands on lands which,
in times past, belonged to someone else. The words made history in acknowledging a
conflict that lies at the core of the creation of the United States after the massacre of Native
American populations and the conquest of their lands.
Earlier, accepting his own award for best adapted screenplay, Taika Waititi, born of a
Maori father and a mother of European descent, dedicated his Oscar “to all the indigenous
kids in the world who want to do art and dance and write stories. We are the original
storytellers and we can make it here, as well.”
Photo credit: “153080_RH5_3219” by Walt Disney Television is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=14&v=47O-
8im8Gq4&feature=emb_logo
Taika Waititi’s acceptance speech for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2020 Oscars.
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doi: 10.18278/aia.4.3.1