We want to thank the Academy…for giving us the opportunity to say that for real! And props to Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman for this excellent win! The feature-length movie of the same name hits theaters July 26!

Skin, the short film directed by Guy Nattiv that One People’s Project Executive Director Daryle Lamont Jenkins served as a Consulting Producer, won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Sunday night. The short served as a precursor to the larger feature film of the same name that will be in theaters on July 26.

Nattiv, an Israeli-born filmmaker who emigrated to the United States five years ago, credited his grandparents for the motivation for the film on race relations. “My grandparents are Holocaust survivors, he said in his acceptance speech. The bigotry that they experienced in the Holocaust — we see that everywhere today, in America, in Europe. This film is about education, about teaching your kids a better way.”

Nattiv co-produced the short with his wife, actress Jaime Ray Newman, who was most recently seen in television programs such as the Punisher and Midnight, Texas. Newman joined him on stage and said that dedicated the win “to our five-month-old baby who’s sitting at home with my parents watching this. We hope that you grow up in a world where these things don’t happen because people learn to love and accept each other.” The couple was joined on stage by screenwriter Sharon Maymon and producer Andrew Carlberg.

Jenkins and former Vinlander Social Club member Bryon Widner were consulting producers on the film about an altercation between a neo-Nazi and his gang and a Black father in a supermarket parking lot that escalates as their respective sons watched. Both will be depicted in the feature film which is about how Widner, played by Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) leaves his neo-Nazi life with the help of Jenkins, played by Mike Colter (Luke Cage). Danielle MacDonald, Lonnie Chavis and Michael Villar, who appeared in the short film, will also appear in the feature.

The short film was also produced by Tim Harms and executive produced by was executive produced by Matt Luber, Joanna Plafsky, Stephen Mao, Jessica Sherman, Peter Sobiloff, Celine Rattray and Trudie Styler.

Last night’s Awards were especially poignant because of the number of Oscar winners that were either women or of color. Seven Black men and women won Oscars, up two from the previous record set two years ago, and women scoring the big prize also broke records with 15
Regina King (Best Supporting Actress, If Beale Street Could Talk), Ruth E. Carter (Best Costume Design, Black Panther), Hannah Beachler (Best Achievement in Production Design, Black Panther) wins, beating 2014 and 2016’s record of 12. Spike Lee won his first Oscar in his 30-year career for Best Adapted Screenplay with BlacKkKlansman, while Regina King won for Best Supporting Actress (If Beale Street Could Talk), Ruth E. Carter for Best Costume Design (Black Panther) and Hannah Beachler for Best Achievement in Production Design (Black Panther), the first-time wins for all three.

Earlier this month, Skin had been acquired by Fox Searchlight Pictures, who will make it available on its social media channels.