Film director Alejandro G. Iñárritu’ to receive special Oscar.

LOS ANGELES–The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted Wednesday to present a special award – an Oscar statuette – to director Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s virtual reality installation, “CARNE y ARENA (Virtually Present, Physically Invisible),” in recognition of a visionary and powerful experience in storytelling.

“The Governors of the Academy are proud to present a special Oscar to ‘CARNE y ARENA,’ in which Alejandro Iñárritu and his cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki have opened for us new doors of cinematic perception,” said Academy President John Bailey. “‘CARNE y ARENA,’ Iñárritu’s multimedia art and cinema experience, is a deeply emotional and physically immersive venture into the world of migrants crossing the desert of the American southwest in early dawn light.

“CARNE y ARENA,” currently on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Fondazione Prada in Milan, and Tlatelolco Cultural Center in Mexico City, is a collaboration between Iñárritu, Lubezki, producer Mary Parent, Legendary Entertainment, Fondazione Prada, ILMxLAB, and Emerson Collective. Katie Calhoon executive produced.

In recognition of this achievement, an Oscar will be presented to “CARNE y ARENA” at the

Academy’s 9th annual Governors Awards on November 11 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland Center in  Los Angeles.