At last years Oscars, Chlo Zhao became the first woman of color to win Best Director and Youn Yuh-jung became the first South Korean performer to win an acting Oscar , two landmarks for Asian representation at the Academy Awards.

They were part of a welcome and long-overdue uptick in diversity at the Oscars. In 2021, nearly half of the 20 acting nominees were people of color, a record high. That included three Asian nominees: Youn, along with her Minari castmate Steven Yeun, as well as Sound of Metal star Riz Ahmed. In addition, for the first time, more than one woman was nominated for Best Director (Zhao for Nomadland and Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman). Zhao also wasnt the only Asian director nominated, with Minari director Lee Isaac Chung among the five Best Director nominees.

However, looking at this years slate of Oscar contenders, its not likely the nominees, which will be announced Feb. 8, will match last years watershed moment for diversity and representation. In order to help put diversity and representation top of mind for Oscar voters, two Asian advocacy organizations Gold House and the Coalition for Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE) have teamed up for their second annual Gold List. The list, released Tuesday, highlights Asian-led and Asian-created films of 2021 in the hopes that last years Oscar season wasnt just one little blip but the beginning of a long-term movement, as Gold Houses executive director, Jeremy Tran, said in an interview.

My biggest fear is that the voting bodies and awards community will say: Oh, yeah, you got Parasite two years ago. You got Chlo Zhao last year. Youre good for the next 10 years, he said. Thats my biggest fear and something weve seen happen in the past.

In 2021, Gold House and CAPE created the list because movies by and about Asians and other people of color traditionally havent been as likely to get the multimillion-dollar For your consideration campaigns and substantial backing from Hollywood studios and awards marketing firms. This year, Tran had hoped to see some progress, given the string of recent successes by Asian filmmakers and actors. But hes disappointed that, for example, Marvels box office hit Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Simu Liu, Awkwafina and Tony Leung, hasnt received much awards attention compared with previous blockbusters. Another film on this years Gold List is A24s The Green Knight. Starring Dev Patel and Sarita Choudhury, the slow-burning and visually daring fantasy drama earned rave reviews from many critics but hasnt generated much Oscar buzz.