Marrakech Festival: Sean Penn accuses the Academy of Oscars of "cowardice"

Sean Penn on Tuesday criticized Oscar organizers for being "cowards" who are effectively limiting the types of films that can be financed and made.

The 64-year-old actor said at the Marrakech film festival that he only gets excited about the Oscars on rare occasions when films he likes are nominated.

"The producers of the academy have shown extraordinary cowardice when it comes to being part of the world of expression and, in fact, have done a great deal to limit imagination and different cultural expressions," Penn said at the festival, where he received a lifetime achievement award this week.

"I'm not very enthusiastic about what we'll call the Oscars," he added, noting the exceptions to the awards ceremony that include Sean Baker's "The Florida Project," Walter Salles ' "I'm Still Here" and Jacques Audiard's "Emilia Perez.   "

Mr Penn's remarks are in line with long-standing criticism of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for lacking diversity in its membership and in the films it honours with awards.

In recent years, the academy has taken steps to reform and rebrand itself but has been criticized for not going far enough.

Mr. Penn also praised Iranian-Danish director Ali Abassi and his latest film “The Apprentice,” about President Donald Trump. That film struggled to find a U.S. distributor ahead of the November U.S. election.

" It's amazing how scared this maverick business is when they get a great movie like this, with great acting," he said. "They can be as scared as a minor Republican congressman."

As part of a tribute to his career, the Marrakech Film Festival is screening four of Mr. Penn’s films in Morocco’s tourist capital this week. Local Moroccan media reported that several viewers walked out of a screening of “Milk” during a scene showing two men in bed. Homosexuality is illegal under Morocco’s penal code, although cases are not often prosecuted.

The actor, whose 2023 film "Superpower" documents the war in Ukraine, also expressed support for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and called himself a "patriot in crisis" in response to a question about the American political landscape.