KATHMANDU: Ava DuVernay is one of the six members elected in the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the year 2020-21. DuVernay has been elected to represent the director's branch. As a result of this election, the number of female Academy governors increases from 25 to 26, and people of colour increases from 11 to 12, including the three Governors-at-Large, the Academy said in a statement on June 10. The Board of Governors represent each of the Academy’s 17 branches and work to set the organisation’s strategy, finances and “fulfillment of its mission'. DuVernay has been an active and vocal member of the film Academy for years. She recently backed up David Oyelowo’s assertion that members of the Academy threatened to squash Selma’s awards chances after they wore tee-shirts with the words 'I Can’t Breathe' to the film’s New York premiere in 2014 in honour of Eric Garner, according to AP. The Academy took to Twitter to condemn the threats: 'Ava & David, we hear you. Unacceptable. We're committed to progress.' And reacting to her first-time election, the filmmaker tweeted, 'Thank you to the members of the Directors Branch of @TheAcademy. Life is a funny, fascinating thing. You never know what's around the corner.' Other five others elected for the first time to the 54-person board are — Debra Zane (casting directors branch), Lynette Howell Taylor (producers branch), Stephen Rivkin (film editors branch), Linda Flowers (makeup artists and hairstylists branch), and Rob Bredow (visual effects branch). — HNS