Ava DuVernay’s ‘Origin’ Submits Stan Walker’s ‘I Am’ to Oscars

Ava DuVernay’s latest drama, Origin, has submitted New Zealand Māori singer Stan Walker’s original song I Am to the 2024 Academy Awards. Walker co-wrote the track with Te Kanapu Anasta, Michael Fatkin, and Vince Harder.

If Walter were nominated, he would make history as the second Indigenous person and first Indigenous man nominated for Best Original Song. The first Indigenous person to win an Oscar was Buffy Sainte-Marie for the song Up Where We Belong from the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman. Aside from Saint-Marie, the only other Indigenous Oscar winner is Taika Waititi, who won Best Adapted Screenplay for Jojo Rabbit in 2020.

Origin will give DuVernay a chance to make history as the first Black woman nominated for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. DuVernay has already made history at the Oscars for her film Selma, where she became the first Black woman to direct a film nominated for Best Picture, and her documentary 13th, where she became the first Black woman nominated for Best Documentary Feature.

Origin will open in New York and Los Angeles on December 8, 2023 before releasing nationwide on January 19, 2024.