Oscar nominations: Oakland native Ryan Coogler makes history

In a year marked by cinematic diversity, Oakland-born filmmaker Ryan Coogler has made Academy Award history as part of the first all-Black producing team to be nominated for the best picture award.

Coogler, best known for directing the superhero blockbuster “Black Panther,” is among the three producers behind “Judas and the Black Messiah,” which was nominated for best picture on Monday. His fellow producers are Shaka King and Charles D. King.

“Judas and the Black Messiah,” which tells the story of Black Panther party chairman Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) and the FBI’s efforts to silence him, will compete for best-picture honors alongside “The Father,” “Mank,” “Minari,” “Nomadland,” “Promising Young Woman,” “Sound of Metal” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”

Coogler, who was born in Oakland, spent much of his youth in Richmond and went on to attend Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, where he developed an interest in screenwriting. Monday’s honor marks his first Oscar nomination.

“Judas and the Black Messiah” also produced an Oscar nomination for Vallejo singer-songwriter H.E.R. She was cited in the best original song category, with “Fight for You.” H.E.R., who on Sunday won a Grammy for best song, shares the nomination with co-writers Dernst Emile II (“D’Mile”) and Tiara Thomas.

The Bay Area left its mark on the 93rd annual Academy Awards in other ways. The Emeryville-based Pixar Animation Studios collected two nominations for best animated film as both “Soul” and “Onward” were honored. “Soul,” which included Oakland native Daveed Diggs among its voice cast, was also nominated for best original score (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jon Batiste) and achievement in sound (Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott and David Parker).

“Soul” and “Onward” will face off against “Over the Moon,” “Wolfwalkers,” and “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon” for best animated picture. “Soul,” which recently captured a Golden Globe Award, has to be considered the overwhelming favorite.

The Bay Area will also be represented in the best documentary feature category, where “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution,” earned a nomination. Co-directed by Berkeley-based filmmakers James LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham, “Crip Camp” tells the story of a groundbreaking summer camp and how it helped to fuel the disability rights movement.

Other nominees in the feature documentary category include “Collective,” “The Mole Agent,” “My Octopus Teacher” and “Time.”

Also of note: “Netflix,” the Los Gatos-based streaming giant, led all distributors and studios with 35 nominations.

The eligibility period for this year’s Oscar nominations was unlike any other. The coronavirus pandemic shuttered movie theaters around the world for much of last year, forcing the Academy to make some changes to its rules. For this year only, the organization has permitted films that would have gone to cinemas to still be eligible if they debuted on streaming services.