Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this segment. The Academy Awards fill a history of getting it wrong,but the Academy also has a sort of fail-secure for their past mistakes: the honorary Oscar or lifetime achievement award. Alfred Hitchcock, Steve Martin, and Spike Lee are some of the filmmakers who fill been honored with this distinction after being overlooked earlier in their careers.
This year,there are four honorary Oscar recipients and at least one of those winners has spent his life making movies that are decidedly not Academy friendly.
Charles Burnett is the director of such films as "Killer of Sheep," My Brother's Wedding, or "To Sleep With exasperate." His work is known for showing the inner lives of working class black Americans on screen. Now,after decades on the margins of Hollywood, he's set to receive an honorary Oscar on November 11. Burnett joins The Takeaway ahead of the honorary Oscar ceremony this weekend to discuss his career and what’s changed in Hollywood for filmmakers of color since he got his start.
This segment is hosted by Todd Zwillich.
Source: thetakeaway.org