After an unusually long wait since the last Academy Awards ceremony (14 and a half months), in a year that put everyone and everything on hold, the Oscar statuettes were finally matched with their forever homes. And several of them went to a movie about a woman whose home became her van and the open road.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic nearly ended the moviegoing experience in 2020, the notable films that did find their way to your screens were honored Sunday night in a ceremony in L.A.’s Union Station that was smaller and more subdued than usual (save for Glenn Close’s “Da Butt” dance). Nomadland proved to be the night’s big winner, bringin home trophies for Best Picture, Best Actress via Frances McDormand, and Best Director via Chloé Zhao, who became the first woman of color (and the second woman ever) to win in that category,.
The Oscars have been working in recent years to start addressing their historical lack of representation, and some promise loomed in this year’s slate of nominations, with nine of the 20 acting slots featuring performers of color. In the end, Daniel Kaluuya triumphed in the Supporting Actor category for his work as Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah — it was one of the two awards that the film won on Sunday night — and Yuh-Jung Youn claimed victory in the Supporting Actress category for Minari. (Youn became the first Korean actor or actress to win an Oscar, and she also delivered on the speech front). But while the late Chadwick Boseman was considered the favorite to claim the Best Actor trophy for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, 83-year-old Anthony Hopkins pulled off a win for The Father, becoming the oldest actor to win an Oscar.
There were other victories for inclusion, as the Kemp Powers-directed Soul claimed two trophies: Best Animated Film and Best Original Score (with Jon Batiste sharing the trophy with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross). Speaking of music, H.E.R. won Best Song for “Fight For You” from Judas and the Black Messiah (sharing the trophy with Dernst Emile II and Tiara Thomas). And Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom took home awards for Costume Design as well as Makeup and Hairstyling, with Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson becoming the first Black women to win in the latter category (sharing that statuette with Sergio Lopez-Rivera).
Also in the two-win club were Sound of Metal — which triumphed in the categories of Best Editing and appropriately enough, Best Sound — The Father (which also won for Best Adapted Screenplay), and Mank, which entered the night as the film with the most nominations (10). Though the David Fincher-directed ’30s period piece was shut out of the major categories, it did snag awards for Cinematography and Production Design. Elsewhere, Emerald Fennell also had a Promising night, and there was no stopping a beloved octopus. Check out the complete list of winners at the 93rd Academy Awards below.
- Best Original Screenplay
Judas and the Black Messiah (Will Berson, Shaka King, Keith Lucas, and Kenny Lucas)
Minari (Lee Isaac Chung)
WINNER: Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell)
Sound of Metal (Derek Cianfrance, Abraham Marder, and Darius Marder)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Aaron Sorkin)
- Best Adapted Screenplay
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Peter Baynham, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jena Friedman, Anthony Hines, Lee Kern, Dan Mazer, Erica Rivinoja, and Dan Swimer)
WINNER: The Father (Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller)
Nomadland (Chloé Zhao)
One Night in Miami (Kemp Powers)
The White Tiger (Ramin Bahrani)
- Best International Feature Film
WINNER: Another Round
Better Days
Collective
The Man Who Sold His Skin
Quo Vadis, Aida?
- Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7
WINNER: Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
Leslie Odom Jr., One Night in Miami
Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
LaKeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah
- Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Emma (Marese Langan, Laura Allen, and Claudia Stolze)
Hillbilly Elegy (Eryn Krueger Mekash, Patricia Dehaney, and Matthew Mungle)
WINNER: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal, and Jamika Wilson)
Mank (Kimberley Spiteri, Gigi Williams, and Colleen LaBaff)
Pinocchio (Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli, and Francesco Pegoretti)
- Best Costume Design
Emma (Alexandra Byrne)
WINNER: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Ann Roth)
Mank (Trish Summerville)
Mulan (Bina Daigeler
Pinocchio (Massimo Cantini Parrini)
- Best Directing
Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round
David Fincher, Mank
Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
WINNER: Chloe Zhao, Nomadland
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
- Best Sound
Greyhound (Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders and David Wyman)
Mank (Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance and Drew Kunin)
News of the World (Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller and John Pritchett)
Soul (Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott and David Parker)
WINNER: Sound of Metal (Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés and Phillip Bladh)
- Best Live-Action Short Film
Feeling Through
The Letter Room
The Present
WINNER: Two Distant Strangers
White Eye
- Best Animated Short Film
Burrow
Genius Loci
WINNER: If Anything Happens I Love You
Opera
Yes-People
- Best Animated Feature Film
Onward
Over the Moon
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
WINNER: Soul
Wolfwalkers
- Best Documentary Short Subject
WINNER: Colette
A Concerto Is a Conversation
Do Not Split
Hunger Ward
A Love Song for Latasha
- Best Documentary Feature
Collective
Crip Camp
The Mole Agent
WINNER: My Octopus Teacher
Time
- Best Visual Effects
Love and Monsters (Matt Sloan, Genevieve Camilleri, Matt Everitt, and Brian Cox)
The Midnight Sky (Matthew Kasmir, Christopher Lawrence, Max Solomon, and David Watkins)
Mulan (Sean Faden, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury, and Steve Ingram)
The One and Only Ivan (Nick Davis, Greg Fisher, Ben Jones, and Santiago Colomo Martinez)
WINNER: Tenet (Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher)
- Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Colman, The Father
Amanda Seyfried, Mank
WINNER: Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari
Best Production Design
The Father (Peter Francis, production design; Cathy Featherstone, set decoration)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Mark Ricker, production design; Karen O’Hara and Diana Stoughton, set decoration)
WINNER: Mank (Donald Graham Burt, production design; Jan Pascale, set decoration)
News of the World (David Crank, production design; Elizabeth Keenan, set decoration)
Tenet (Nathan Crowley, production design; Kathy Lucas, set decoration)
- Best Cinematography
Judas and the Black Messiah (Sean Bobbitt)
WINNER: Mank (Erik Messerschmidt)
News of the World (Dariusz Wolski)
Nomadland (Joshua James Richards)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Phedon Papamichael)
- Best Film Editing
The Father (Yorgos Lamprinos)
Nomadland (Chloé Zhao)
Promising Young Woman (Frédéric Thoraval)
WINNER: Sound of Metal (Mikkel E.G. Nielsen)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Alan Baumgarten)
- Best Original Score
Da 5 Bloods (Terence Blanchard)
Mank (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)
Minari (Emile Mosseri)
News of the World (James Newton Howard)
WINNER: Soul (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jon Batiste)
- Best Original Song
WINNER: “Fight for You,” Judas and the Black Messiah
“Hear My Voice,” The Trial of the Chicago 7
“Husavik,” Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
“Io Si (Seen),” The Life Ahead“
Speak Now,” One Night in Miami
- Best Picture
The Father
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank
Minari
WINNER: Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7
- Best Actress in a Leading Role
Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Andra Day, United States vs. Billie Holiday
Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman
WINNER: Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
- Best Actor in a Leading Role
Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Steven Yeun, Minari
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
WINNER: Anthony Hopkins, The Father
Gary Oldman, Mank