Welcome to the Oscars — an award night dedicated to recognising artistic and technical excellence in the global film industry and one eagerly expected by entertainment buffs worldwide. This year was no exception, as it celebrated several winners and momentous milestones on Sunday night, which will go down in the glorious history of the Oscars.
Jimmy Kimmel returned for the third time to host the 95th Academy Awards, held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 12, 2023. He amused the audience with some light-hearted celebrity ribbing and satire, including the much-anticipated “slap” joke. With an opening monologue that made waves, Kimmel made a theatrical entrance by plunging onto the stage using a faux parachute to mark the year that moviegoers returned to the theatres to watch movies the way they were “intended to be seen: in a theatre.”
“Everything Everywhere All At Once,” emerged as the biggest winner of this year’s Oscars.
The proudly peculiar sci-fi movie by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, pivoted its indie-movie energy to winning seven out of 11 nominations, the most of any film, including the top categories like Best Picture, Best Actress, Original Screenplay, and more. The movie became synonymous with the forward-looking, innovative direction of Hollywood, thus abandoning the cliche obsession of remakes, franchises, and sequels.
Michelle Yeoh accepted the award for Best Actress for her spectacular, shape-shifting leading role in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” becoming the first Asian actress ever to win the category in the Academy Awards’ 95-year history. According to The New York Times, only 23 of 1,808 acting nominees in the Oscars’ history identified as Asian. And of those 23, only four—before Sunday evening—won their category.
As she accepted her Oscar, the Malaysian-born stuntwoman-actor, said, “For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof that dreams [do] come true. And ladies, don’t let anyone tell you that you are past your prime.”
As first-time nominees, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis also accepted their respective acting Oscars after being in the business for decades. Brendan Fraser also snagged the leading acting award for “The Whale” as the first-time winner, making his career comeback in the role of a 600-pound man trying to make peace with his life as the clock runs out on it.
During his acceptance speech, he said, “I started in this business 30 years ago, and things—they didn’t come easily to me, but there was a facility that I didn’t appreciate at the time until it stopped.” What’s worth noting is that Fraser’s win was one of the many awards A24 film studio brought home that night. Taking home nine awards, the studio garnered an award in every single acting category this year.
As a major surprise, “All Quiet on the Western Front” won four awards out of nine nods including best international feature, original score and cinematography. “Navalny,” a documentary about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s biggest political foe Alexei Navalny, who is now in prison, also won the award for the best documentary.
At the 2023 Oscars, Indian cinema experienced yet another moment of global pride. The Best Original Song went to the buoyant number “Naatu Naatu” from the Telugu-language action movie “RRR,” maintaining its winning streak. As MM Keeravaani and Chandrabose picked the trophy, the music composer sang a song dedicating his award to India. In addition, India’s second prestigious win made an enormous noise with “The Elephant Whisperers,” winning the Best Documentary Short at the 2023 Oscars. It’s a documentary that awakens the world to the perennial message of our seers about our relationship with Mother Nature and all its children.
See the Full List of 2023 Academy Award Winners:
Best Picture
- “Everything Everywhere All At Once” – WINNER
- “All Quiet on the Western Front”
- “Avatar: the Way of Water
- “The Banshees of Inisherin”
- “Elvis”
- “The Fabelmans”
- “Tár”
- “Top Gun: Maverick”
- “Triangle of Sadness”
- “Women Talking”
Best Actor in a Leading Role
- Brendan Fraser, “The Whale” – WINNER
- Austin Butler, “Elvis”
- Colin Farrell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
- Paul Mescal, “Aftersun”
- Bill Nighy, “Living”
Best Actress in a Leading Role
- Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” – WINNER
- Cate Blanchett, “Tár”
- Ana de Armas, “Blonde”
- Andrea Riseborough, “To Leslie”
- Michelle Williams, “The Fabelmans”
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
- Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All At Once” – WINNER
- Brendan Gleeson, “Banshees of Inisherin”
- Brian Tyree Henry, “Causeway”
- Judd Hirsch, “The Fabelmans”
- Barry Keoghan, “Banshees of Inisherin”
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
- Jamie Lee Curtis, “Everything Everywhere All At Once” – WINNER
- Angela Bassett, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
- Hong Chau, “The Whale”
- Kerry Condon, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
- Stephanie Hsu, “Everything Everywhere All At Once”
Best Director
- Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” – WINNER
- Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
- Steven Spielberg, “The Fabelmans”
- Todd Field, “Tár”
- Ruben Östlund, “Triangle of Sadness”
Best Adapted Screenplay
- “Women Talking” (Sarah Polley) – WINNER
- “All Quiet on the Western Front”
- “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”
- “Living”
- “Top Gun: Maverick”
Best Original Screenplay
- “Everything Everywhere All At Once” (Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert) – WINNER
- “The Banshees of Inisherin”
- “The Fabelmans”
- “Tár”
- “Triangle of Sadness”
Best Animated Short Film
- “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” – WINNER
- “My Year of Dicks”
- “An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Believe It”
- “The Flying Sailor”
- “Ice Merchants”
Best Costume Design
- “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” – WINNER
- “Babylon”
- “Elvis”
- “Everything Everywhere All At Once”
- “Mrs Harris Goes to Paris”
Best Live-Action Short Film
- “An Irish Goodbye” – WINNER
- “Ivalu”
- “La Pupille”
- “Night Ride”
- “The Red Suitcase”
Best Animated Feature Film
- “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” – WINNER
- “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”
- “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”
- “Turning Red”
- “The Sea Beast”
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
- “The Whale” – WINNER
- “All Quiet on the Western Front”
- “The Batman”
- “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
- “Elvis”
Best Original Score
- “All Quiet on the Western Front” – WINNER
- “Babylon”
- “The Banshees of Inisherin”
- “Everything Everywhere All At Once”
- “The Fabelmans”
Best Sound
- “Top Gun: Maverick” – WINNER
- “All Quiet on the Western Front”
- “Avatar: The Way of Water”
- “The Batman”
- “Elvis”
Best Cinematography
- “All Quiet on the Western Front” – WINNER
- “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths”
- “Elvis”
- “Empire of Light”
- “Tár”
Best Documentary Feature Film
- “Navalny” – WINNER
- “All that Breathes”
- “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”
- “Fire of Love”
- “A House Made of Splinters”
Best Documentary Short Film
- “The Elephant Whisperers” – WINNER
- “Haulout”
- “How Do You Measure a Year?”
- “The Martha Mitchell Effect”
- “Stranger at the Gate”
Best Film Editing
- “Everything Everywhere All At Once” – WINNER
- “The Banshees of Inisherin”
- “Elvis”
- “Tár”
- “Top Gun: Maverick”
Best International Feature Film
- “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Germany – WINNER
- “Argentina, 1985,” Argentina
- “Close,” Belgium
- “EO,” Poland
- “The Quiet Girl,” Ireland
Best Original Song
- “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR” – WINNER
- “Applause” from “Tell It Like a Woman”
- “Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick”
- “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
- “This Is a Life” from “Everything Everywhere All At Once”
Best Production Design
- “All Quiet on the Western Front” – WINNER
- “Avatar: The Way of Water”
- “Babylon”
- “Elvis”
- “The Fabelmans”
Best Visual Effects
- “Avatar: The Way of Water” – WINNER
- “All Quiet on the Western Front”
- “The Batman”
- “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
- “Top Gun: Maverick”
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