The Oscars are underway in Los Angeles celebrating the best of filmmaking in the last year.
Hosted by Conan O’Brien, Hollywood’s Night of Nights is handing out little gold men to deserving actors, writers, producers and directors.
With over a billion people turning in from around the world, there’s a bit of pressure on the hosts, presenters and award winners.
The night began with Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo performing a medley of songs from Wicked, The Wiz and The Wizard of Oz.
Dobert Downey Jr handed out the first award of the night. best Supporting Actor went to the bookies favourite Kieran Culkin for his acclaimed performance in the film A Real Pain.
Hollwood legend Goldie Hawn joined Andrew Garfield to present the next two awards.
The Oscar for Best Animated feature as gone to Flow, which comes from Latvia. It’s the first time a Latvian film has won any award at the Oscars. Australian team Adam Elliot and Liz Kearney were in the running for their film Diary of a Snail.
Best Animated Short went to In the Shadow of the Cyprus. The producers shared that they only arrived in LA just three hours ago and rushed straight to the ceremony. Iranian filmmakers Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi dedicated their award to all people fighting their inner and outer battles.
Lily Rose Depp, Elle Fanning, John Lithgow, Bowen Yang and Connie Neilson jointly presented the award for Best Costume Design. Each has appeared in one of the nominated films. The winner was Paul Tazewell for his work on Wicked. He got a standing ovation when he noted that he’s the first Black man to win the award. “This is everything!” he proclaimed.
Amy Poehler presented the award for Best Original Screenplay which went to writer-director Sean Baker for his script for the film Anora. It’s his first Oscar, but he’s nominated for several more at this year’s ceremony. He dedicated his award to the sex work community and thanked them for sharing their stories with him.
Conclave was the winner of Best Adapted Screenplay, giving writer Peter Staughan his first Oscar. He’s a successful playwright, and his previous film and television work includes The Men Who Stare at Goats, Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy, and the television series Wolf Hall.
Scarlett Johanssen team up with June Squibb to present the awards for hair and makeup. 95-year-old Squibb joked she was actually being played by Peter Sarsgaard in intricate make-up, while the real June Squibb was at home with a book. The team behind The Substance took home the award.
Halle Berry introduced a tribute to the James Bond franchise and its sibling producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli who recently signed a billion-dollar deal with Amazon over the future of the series. Lisa from Blackpink appeared in the middle of a ballet work to sing Live and Let Die. Doja Cat followed with a stunning performance of Diamonds Are Forever. While Raye took on the powerful theme from Skyfall.
Daryl Hannah was the presenter for the Best Editor award. She gave a shout out for Ukraine as she took to the stage. Sean Baker picked up his second Oscar of the night for Arora, which he also wrote and directed.
The best Supporting Actress award was presented by last year’s winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph. This year’s winner is Zoe Saldaña for her role in Emilia Pérez. She also won the BAFTA and Golden Globe for this role. Saldaña highlighted that she is the child of immigrants and the first person of Dominican heritage to win an Oscar. Â
Wicked won the award for Best Production Design which Ben Stiller handed out. Nathan Crowley and Lee Sandales enthused about the experience of working on the film.
Mick Jager got a loud welcome when he took to the stage to present the Oscar for Best Original Song. The award went to El Mal from the film Emilia Pérez. It was written by French singer Camille, composer Clément Ducol and filmmaker Jacques Audiard.
Samuel L Jackson and Selena Gomez gave out the two awards for documentary. Best Short Documentary went to The Only Girl in the Orchestra created by Molly O’Brien and Lisa Remington.
While the Best Feature Documentary was won by No Other Land which was made by a Palestinian Israeli collective of four activists in what they describe as an act of resistance on the path to justice during the ongoing conflict in the region.
Miley Cyrus and Miles Teller presented the Oscar for Best Sound Design which was won by the team behind Dune Part II. The film was on a roll when it also picked up the award for Best Visual Effects.
Live Action Short Film was won by I Am Not A Robot, the 7-minute film created by Dutch husband and wife team Victoria Warmerdam and Trent.
Morgan Freeman led the memorial for industry members who’ve passed away in the preceding year, opening with thoughts about his former costar Gene Hackman. The moving segment included Dabney Coleman, Maggie Smith, Gena Rowlands, Kris Kristofferson, Teri Garr, Joan Plowright, Anouk Aimee, Donald Sutherland, Richard M Sherman, Louis Gossett Jr, Shelley Duvall, David Lynch, James Earl Jones, and Hackman.
The Oscar for Best Cinematography went to Lol Crawley for his work on the epic film The Brutalist. The Welsh filmmaker thanked his family and the film’s director Brady Corbet.
Penelope Cruz handed out the Oscar for Best International Film, passing the trophy to Brazilian film, I’m Still Here which won over the high-profile Emilia Pérez. The film shares the real-life story of Eunice Paiva who challenged Bazil’s military dictatorship after her husband disappeared after being seized by the state.
Star Wars star Mark Hammill presented the award for Best Score. It was won by Daniel Blumberg for his score to The Brutalist. The former lead singer of indie rock band Yuck has composed music for a wide range of applications.
The Color Purple actors Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey reunited on stage to honour Quincy Jones, noting he was a seven-time Oscar nominee. “Quincy was love lived out-loud in human form,” Winfrey said.
A giant musical number followed with Queen Latifah launching into Ease on Down the Road from the 70’s musical The Wiz. Colman Domingo, Ariana Grande and Cythia Erivo could clearly be seen rising from their seats to join in the sing-along.
Cillian Murphy, who won last year’s Best Actor Award, welcomed this year’s winner Adrian Brody to the stage. Brody was recognised for his performance in The Brutalist. He previously won the award for The Pianist in 2002.
“I feel so fortunate” Brody said as he clasped the golden statuette. In a lengthy acceptance speech, he spoke about racism, antisemitism, and brutality of war, and appealed to people to call out hate.
Director Quentin Tarantino highlighted the give directors in the running for Best Director, before opening the envelope and giving Anora director Sean Baker his third Oscar of the night. Baker used his third speech of the night to encourage people to head to movie theatres, especially independent ones, to watch films on the big screen.
Mikey Madison was named Best Actress for her role in Anora. The 25-year-old actor said the experience was “surreal”.
The final award for the nigh was Best Film, and the presenters were When Harry Met Sally stars Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal. Crystal noted that it was 35 years ago that he first hosted the ceremony.
Ten films were in the running for Best Picture, A Complete Unknown, Anora, The Brutalist, Conclave, Dune: Part 2, Emila Perez, Nickel Boys, I’m Still Here, The Substance and Wicked.
The announcement of Anora gave the film it’s fifth award of the night. The independent film winning over big budget studio films. “Long live independent film!” proclaimed director Sean Baker.
