LOS ANGELES:
Nomadland, a poignant tale about a woman who decides to live out of her van and travel around the American West, won the Oscar for best picture Sunday.
It was a big night for the film's director, Chloe Zhao, who also took home the Oscar in the sought-after best director category, making her the first Asian woman and first woman of color to win best director, and only the second woman in the event's 93-year history. The Chinese-born Zhao not only directed Nomadland, but also wrote the screenplay and edited the film.
It was already considered sensational that two women, Zhao and Emerald Fennell, were in the running in the same year — a first for the Oscars. Until now, Kathryn Bigelow was the only woman to have won in the category for her 2010 film, The Hurt Locker.
Zhao was not the only big Nomadland winner. Frances McDormand took home her third best actress Academy Award. She produced and also appeared as its main character: a middle-aged woman named Fern. During the best picture acceptance speech, McDormand urged viewers to return to movie theaters as soon as possible and gave a wolf howl, as she does in the film, before leaving the stage.
Chloe Zhao won best director for her film "Nomadland."
A year unlike any other
Unlike many other awards ceremonies during the pandemic, including last year's Oscars, the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony was an in-person, albeit slimmed down event, featuring only nominees, presenters and their guests. This year, the Oscars were held in Union Station and Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Inside Union Station in front of a small crowd, actress and director Regina King opened the show with a monologue, telling the nominees in front of her to ''think of this as a movie set.''
''People have been vaxxed, tested, re-tested and socially distanced,'' she said. All nominees and guests had to have a minimum of two COVID-19 PCR tests, as well as tests in the weeks leading up to the ceremony.
All guests to the slimmed-down Oscars were COVID tested multiple times.
Who were the other winners?
The big difference in the historically white male-dominated event were the multiple wins for women and people of color.
Actor Daniel Kaluuya won best supporting actor for playing Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah. Hampton was assassinated by the FBI in 1969 when an informant infiltrated the Party. Fred Hampton Jr. worked as a consultant on the film, which had an all-Black producing team.
British actor Daniel Kaluuya won best supporting actor.
Anthony Hopkins was the surprise best actor winner. The 83-year old played an aging man with dementia who is cared for by his daughter in the film The Father. He beat out top pick Chadwick Boseman, who passed away at age 43 after a long battle with colon cancer last August. This is Hopkins' second best actor Oscar — he won 30 years ago for his role in Silence of the Lambs.
History was also made when veteran Korean actress Yuh-Jung Youn took home the best supporting actress award, becoming the first Korean person to win an acting Oscar and the second Asian actor to win an acting Oscar. She played mother-in-law Soon-ja who joins her son's family in Arkansas, USA to start a new life in Minari.
Best original screenplay went to Emerald Fennell's revenge film, Promising Young Woman. It was the actress and writer's first feature film — she worked as head writer in the popular TV series Killing Eve.
Emerald Fennell accepts the award for best original screenplay
Best adapted screenplay prize went to Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller of The Father.
Pixar film Soul, a film about death and jazz, which was the first Pixar film to feature an African-American protagonist, won best animated film, as well as best score. One of its composers, Jon Batiste, became the second Black composer to win the award.
The pandemic provided a unique opportunity for smaller-budget films launched via streaming services to have a shot at taking home an award, since the release dates of Hollywood blockbusters like Steven Spielberg's West Side Story, and Wes Andersen's The French Dispatch have been postponed because of the crisis.
Mank, a slow-paced black-and-white film about Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman J Mankiewicz which streamed on Netflix, garnered 10 nominations. It picked up awards for cinematography and best production design.
Netflix film Ma Rainy’s Black Bottom also won best makeup and hairstyling as well as best costume design, but no best actress win for Viola Davis who became the most-nominated Black actress in history.
The best documentary feature went to a film available on Netflix, My Octopus Teacher.
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