YouTubeThere's not doubt that the cast of Selma is excited and proud that the film received Oscar nominations for best picture and best original song.
However, it's also bitter sweet because Academy members overlooked Ava DuVernay for best director and David Oyelowo for best actor as well as any faces of color for acting nods.
"I'm glad we're in the room and we're on the carpet because that's how change happens," Lorraine Toussaint, who plays Amelia Boynton in the film, told me at the Critics' Choice Awards. "Sometimes it's slower than we'd like, but you know what, it's happening."
But she has a message for Hollywood. "Come on already!" Toussaint said. "We are America. This is Hollywood. We really are the leaders of this medium and this medium is powerful. It could change minds and it can change hearts. You must be more responsible with the films that you make and the faces you put out there. All white films no longer reflect the face of this world. Let's get on with it, shall we?"
Carmen Ejogo, who plays Coretta Scott King, says she flew to Los Angeles on her "own dime to meet Ava and to fight for the role in a way that I have never fought for a role before."
"There are has to be more diversity going forward," she said, adding, "I think it keeps the Academy relevant if they keep up to speed in that way."
President Barack Obama hosted a private screening of the film at the White House on Friday. Guests included DuVernay, Oprah Winfrey, Common, Oyelowo, Ejogo and Tim Roth.
Many of the same people, along with hundreds of others, marched yesterday to Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge just as Martin Luther King Jr. did to mark today's national holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader.
Selma is in theaters now.