The biggest night of the entertainment world, the 93rd Academy Awards commenced last night, just the way it was promised by its producers – an intimate ceremony without masks amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
The night saw many firsts for the prestigious Oscar awards. From Chloe Zhao being the first colored woman to win an Academy Award as best director for Nomadland to Youn Yuh-Jung being the first Korean winning best-supporting actress award for Minari.
The 93rd Academy Awards kick-started with the zealous Regina King opening the show by claiming that they are finally live on television!
She took the stage to announce the awards night being maskless as the producers behind the camera have worked hard in testing and retesting social distancing and maintaining the highest level of SOPs to make this night happen. The night went straight into business as the winners were announced for different categories without any delay.
Pixar’s animated movie “Soul” won the Oscar for the best-animated feature film; it also became the first movie to win without being played in the theatres.
93rd Academy Awards were different from any of the prior awards. They had the longest award season also thanks to the pandemic delays. It changed the standard rules, such as the theatrical run requirement for the nominations and the virtual screening being allowed.
Anthony Hopkins took home the award for best actor for the movie “The Father” making him the oldest winner ever at the age of 83; whereas Frances McDormand won the best actress award in a leading role for her fantastic stint in “Nomadland”.
The ceremony was heavily influenced by the verdict of the George Floyd case and many actors and actresses recorded their thoughts regarding racism and the brutal killings of innocent people at the hands of police.
36-year-old Travon Free, one of the directors of “Two distant Strangers” made a statement by attending the Academy Awards wearing a customized Dolce & Gabbana suit lined with names of all the people killed by police brutality in America. He further discussed the brutality of the police in his acceptance speech as his film won the award for the best live-action short film.
The ceremony was shot in 24 frames-per-second and included many sought-after presenters namely Hally Berry, Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon, Zendaya, and Harrison Ford to name a few.
