Steve McQueen's Small Axe will compete for Emmys, but it shouldn't it be up for the Oscars?

Variety

Amazon's Small Axe has sparked a debate over whether it's TV or film because it's a collection of five movies, raising the question whether it should be up for Oscar or Emmy consideration. Amazon has already decided it would compete for Emmys. "The line between film and television have been blurred for years," says Clayton Davis. "Some of us thought it would be one film that would force the call, but coincidentally, it seems to be five films that encapsulate Steve McQueen’s Small Axe (or one really long movie, depending on where you stand) that forces the question of what constitutes an Oscars vs. Emmys contender. Amazon Studios’ anthology series, a collection of five films with different casts and stories, made history on Sunday night when it won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) award for best picture. Since LAFCA was established in 1975, no piece of art like McQueen’s has ever been awarded the top prize. Every winner of LAFCA has gone onto be nominated for at least one major Oscar — in categories such as picture, director, acting and writing....The dispute on social media has been everyone’s interpretation of Small Axe. Is it one single film? Is it five individual pieces of cinema? No matter where you fall, LAFCA illustrated a 'both sides' argument when they awarded Small Axe collectively in places like directing, cinematography and picture, but Lovers Rock, the second film of the series, separately in score. LAFCA’s awards eligibility requirements, or lack thereof, muddied the conversation even greater. Under current guidelines, if a LAFCA member wanted to vote for Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo from 1958 in this weekend’s proceedings, they would be allowed to do so. This allowed the group to effectively say Small Axe is 'both one movie and it’s five.'"