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I couldn't wait to celebrate the diversity of nominees at this Sunday's 79th Annual Academy Awards. Never before have I seen so many faces of color in the list of nominees.

Of this year's 20 Oscar acting nominees, five are black, two are Latina and one is Japanese, while among best-picture nominees, much of "Babel" is in Arabic, Berber, Spanish and Japanese and "Letters from Iwo Jima" is almost entirely in Japanese.

All those nominees of color are exciting: Forest Whitaker, Will Smith, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson, Penelope Cruz, Djimon Hounsou, Adriana Barraza, Rinko Kikuchi.

Moreover, Mexican filmmakers are making a big splash at this year's ceremony as Guillermo Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth" received a nomination for best foreign-language film, along with five other nominations, including Best Original Screenplay, Art Direction, Cinematography, Makeup and Score. And not to be outdone, Alfonso Cuaron's "Children of Men" also received three nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography and Film Editing.

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So why am I not bounding in leaps of joy down Hollywood Boulevard to celebrate diversity's success?

Well, Moctesuma Esparza, founder and CEO of Maya Cinemas and Maya Pictures and  a renowned Latino film producer, opened my eyes to the fact that American-born Latinos still are being ignored. Further, films created and written by black American producers, directors and writers were also forgotten.

"I think you're not seeing what you think you're seeing," Esparza said to me. "When you're thinking of 'Babel' and 'Pan's Labrynth' and 'Children of Men' and some of the other actors, actresses and filmmakers nominated, these are not American Latinos. These are foreign nationals representing their foreign country and industry."

Esparza says it's as if black Americans can celebrate the Cotonou, Benin-born Djimon Hounsou's nomination as evidence that Hollywood is paying attention to the artistry of black-American actors.

"That's like saying that Africans from South Africa or Zimbabwe who are nominated are satisfying the aspirations of American blacks," said Esparza. "These guys grew up in Mexico ... a country where there's no racism based on being Mexican. There might be classicism but it's not [American] racism."

Esparza said he does believe the nominees with Spanish surnames will positively affect the efforts of American Latinos to break into Hollywood. But so far it's happening on the small screen. One of this year's big hits on television was ABC's "Ugly Betty" about an American-born Latina working as an assistant at a New York-based fashion magazine.

And Esparza is not alone in his critique of this year's Oscar nominees.

"It seems like Americans are the underdogs now," said Tanya Kersey, founder and executive director of the Hollywood Black Film Festival. "But for African Americans, it's great that we have truly one-quarter of the [actor] Oscar nominations."

Kersey notes that while "Dreamgirls" features a black-American cast, its writers, directors and producers were white. The problem is that black filmmakers, such as John Singleton and Spike Lee, among others, still have yet to get the Oscar they deserve, Kersey said.

"So we're not talking about a black film in the sense of black stars, black producers, black directors," said Kersey. "We're talking about films with black people in them. I think people need to pay attention to the reality of the situation and don't celebrate too much. Until Spike or John or other great black filmmakers get the [Oscar], then we still don't have a diverse Hollywood."

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