By Vanessa Obioha
For two years consecutively, Asians made historic moments at the Academy Awards. Last year was South Korean Bong Joon Ho whose movie ‘Parasite’ claimed the Best Picture award with him taking the Best Director trophy.
Last night at the 93rd edition, Chinese director Chloé Zhao became the first woman of colour to win Best Director for the film ‘Nomadland’. Zhao is now the second woman to win the award. Kathryn Bigelow took home the trophy in 2010 for directing ‘The Hurt Locker.’ Still a first for ‘Nomadland’, the film made history by winning the top three prizes at the awards with the third being Best Actress won by Frances McDormand.
Another Korean first went to Yuh-Jung Youn who played the grandmother in the Korean American film ‘Minari’. The film was also in the running for Best Picture. Youn became the first Korean actor to win an Oscar.
The Oscars further spread the spotlight to Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson, who became the first black women to be nominated and win the award for Make-up and Hairstyling for their work on ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.’
Anthony Hopkins whose win as the Best Director considered by critics as upset became the oldest actor to win the Best Actor honours at 83 while Ann Roth, the winner of Best Costume Design is the oldest woman to ever win an Oscar at 89. She was recognised for her work in ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.’
The historic wins of the night indicated the Academy’s commitment to making the awards as diverse as possible. Since it pledged to increase the membership of women and people of colour, the awards have been taking conscious steps to achieve that. In this year’s award, 70 women earned nominations across 23 categories, and nine people of colour were nominated for their acting, one of them being Riz Ahmed who became the first Muslim to be recognised in the Best Actor race.
Adjusting to the changes caused by the pandemic, the awards moved home from the Dolby Theatre to an Art Deco, Mission Revival train station in Los Angeles. Only nominees and their guests were in attendance.
See the full list of winners below:
Best Picture: ‘Nomadland’
Best Director: Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)
Best Actor: Anthony Hopkins (The Father)
Best Actress: Frances McDormand (Nomadland)
Best Supporting Actor: Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah)
Best Supporting Actress: Yuh-Jung Youn (Minari)
Original Screenplay: Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)
Adapted Screenplay: Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller (The Father)
Animated Feature: ‘Soul’
Production Design: ‘Mank’
Costume Design: ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’
Cinematography: Erik Messerschmidt (Mank)
Editing: ‘Sound of Metal’
Makeup and Hairstyling: ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’
Sound: ‘Sound of Metal’
Visual Effects: ‘Tenet’
Score: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste (Soul)
Song: ‘Fight for You’ (Judas and the Black Messiah)
Documentary Feature: ‘My Octopus Teacher’
International Feature: ‘Another Round,’ Denmark
Animated Short: ‘If Anything Happens I Love You’
Documentary Short: ‘Colette’
Live-Action Short: ‘Two Distant Strangers’
