The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present a Special Award Oscar to director Alejandro G. Iñárritu for his VR 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. More than even a creative breakthrough in the still emerging form of virtual reality, it viscerally connects us to the hot-button political and social realities of the U.S.-Mexico border.”

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.