Ross told The Hollywood Reporter at Sunday’s Oscars that, after making his feature narrative debut with “Nickel Boys,” he knows that financing his indies would be a “philanthropic” venture due to a lack of guaranteed financial return. (“Nickel Boys,” for one, grossed just over $3.1 million worldwide off an allegedly $23 million budget .)

Five years after his first Academy Award nomination, Ross earned a second for his film about a notorious Florida reformatory school, which stars Brown alumni Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Daveed Diggs.

Nickel Boys director RaMell Ross and producer Joslyn Barnes chat with THR at the Oscars red carpet and Ross talks about how he plans to lean into his activism at tonight’s ceremony. Plus, he says he’s looking for someone to give $10 million for his next two projects.

Rhode Island School of Design graduate RaMell Ross’s movie “Nickel Boys” has been nominated for two Oscars at the 97th Academy Awards.