bourbiza mohamed
The pink carpet has been unfurled for the 96th annual Academy Awards, one of many film business’s oldest and most acclaimed ceremonies.
It’s an evening of glitz, artistry and controversy, as a few of the largest movies in the US and around the globe compete for the golden statuettes often known as Oscars.
Going down in Los Angeles, California, this yr’s Academy Awards ceremonies are set to pit field workplace rivals Barbie and Oppenheimer in opposition to each other in a carefully watched race for Finest Image.
Whereas Oppenheimer is an early favorite for the win, different classes are more durable to foretell, with tight races within the two main actor classes, as an example. And with Israel’s conflict in Gaza raging right into a sixth month, protests and politics are anticipated to make an look on the annual award present, too.
Right here’s what it’s essential find out about this yr’s Oscars.
How did the Academy Awards start?
Whereas the Oscars have turn out to be synonymous with glitz and glam, their origins had been comparatively humble.
It was Could 1929, and a crowd of black-tied celebrities crowded into the Roosevelt Resort in Hollywood for the very first Academy Awards ceremony. Tickets had been solely $5. Hollywood heartthrob Douglas Fairbanks hosted the occasion, which lasted a grand complete of quarter-hour — a far cry from in the present day’s three-plus-hour runtime.
It helped, after all, that the winners had been introduced three months prior in a bulletin.
The Oscars had been born on the cusp of a seismic change in Hollywood: the appearance of sound movies. One of many movies nominated in that first ceremony was 1927’s The Jazz Singer, thought-about the primary “talkie” in cinema.
What organisation is behind the awards?
The “Academy” within the award title refers back to the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences, an organisation for filmmaking professionals that honours achievement within the business.
Based in 1927, the Academy was composed of 36 unique members, together with writers, administrators, producers and different business insiders. The swashbuckling actor Douglas Fairbanks was amongst them. So too was silent-movie darling Mary Pickford — although, tellingly, she was one in all solely three ladies among the many 36.
Questions of illustration inside the Academy’s membership proceed to spur criticism, even to at the present time.
One of many central figures within the early Academy was the pinnacle of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studios, a robust determine named Louis B Mayer. A Russian-born movie producer, he feared how unions would possibly intervene along with his work — and he conceived of the Academy partly to deal with labour points with out union participation.
Why are the trophies known as ‘Oscars’?
The nickname for the enduring golden statuette, “Oscar”, turned broadly utilized in 1934.
The origins of the title stay unclear, however one in style story credit the moniker to a future govt director of the Academy, Margaret Herrick. She reportedly noticed that the statuette resembled her uncle, Oscar, and the nickname rapidly caught on.
What number of Oscar classes are there?
On the first Oscars ceremony in 1929, there have been solely 12 classes, plus two particular awards given. However that quantity tumbled to seven the very subsequent yr.
These unique classes included mentions for Finest Actor, Finest Actress, Artwork Path and Excellent Image. The directing class was break up in two: one for comedy and the opposite for drama.
These days, there are 24 common classes, along with a number of particular classes that aren’t awarded yearly. However there’s just one Finest Director class, in contrast to in 1929.
How are the nominees picked?
To be eligible to be nominated, a movie have to be proven at a business theatre in Los Angeles County throughout the calendar yr. Which means a whopping 321 characteristic movies had been eligible in 2023 throughout two dozen classes.
Members of the Academy take part in an preliminary vote to find out the nominees, based mostly on their particular business discipline. Actors choose the performing nominees, for instance.
OK, what in regards to the winners? Who picks these?
As soon as the nominees are picked, all voting Academy members choose the winners. There are an estimated 10,500 members in complete, with practically 9,500 eligible to vote.
However advertising and marketing campaigns, notably from massive studios, are frequent observe forward of the awards ceremony to rally assist for a given movie or artist.
Critics have due to this fact slammed the function cash performs within the choice course of. They’ve additionally pointed to the Academy’s membership as indicative of bigger variety issues: A majority of members are white and male, resulting in questions in regards to the winners they choose.
What are a few of the largest movies at this yr’s Oscars?
There was no larger second within the leisure world final yr than the odd-couple double characteristic often known as Barbenheimer. That was the moniker followers gave to Oppenheimer and Barbie, two blockbusters launched on the identical day in July.
Each have continued to take pleasure in robust momentum going into Oscars season: Oppenheimer with 13 nominations, Barbie with 8.
However Oppenheimer, a sweeping biopic of nuclear physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, is anticipated to dominate classes like Finest Image and Finest Director, doubtlessly delivering a long-awaited win to director Christopher Nolan.
Barbie, in the meantime, was the highest-grossing movie of the yr, pulling in additional than $1.4b worldwide. However whereas it bought nods for classes like Finest Image and Finest Supporting Actor, it was broadly seen as snubbed within the Finest Actress and Finest Director slots.
Legendary director Martin Scorsese can also be a frontrunner on this yr’s competitors with Killers of the Flower Moon, a movie based mostly on the real-life story of a killing spree that focused the Osage Nation within the Nineteen Twenties.
Fellow auteur Yorgos Lanthimos is again within the working as effectively with Poor Issues, a feminist-inspired Frankenstein story with steampunk aesthetics. Poor Issues acquired 11 nominations, and Killers of the Flower Moon 10.
Which 10 movies are up for Finest Image?
- The Holdovers
- American Fiction
- The Zone of Curiosity
- Barbie
- Oppenheimer
- Poor Issues
- Previous Lives
- Anatomy of a Fall
- Maestro
- Killers of the Flower Moon
Are there any history-makers this yr?
One of many stars of Killers of the Flower Moon, Lily Gladstone, is main the race for Finest Actress, after choosing up trophies on the Golden Globes and the Display Actors Guild Awards.
A member of the Nez Perce and Blackfeet nations, Gladstone is the primary Native American to be nominated within the Finest Actress class. A win would likewise be historic.
The movie additionally acquired historic nods for its music, which featured Indigenous artists. Osage Nation member Scott George acquired the primary Native American nomination for Finest Music, whereas the late composer Robbie Robertson, whose mom was Cayuga and Mohawk, is believed to be the primary Indigenous individual nominated for Finest Authentic Rating. Robertson died in August 2023.
The social satire American Fiction additionally garnered a nominating first: By no means earlier than have two Black males from the identical movie acquired performing nods. Stars Jeffrey Wright and Sterling Ok Brown are honoured within the Finest Actor and Finest Supporting Actor classes, respectively.
Colman Domingo, the star of the civil rights biopic Rustin, made historical past as effectively, turning into the primary Afro-Latino man to attain a Finest Actor nod.
This yr additionally marks the primary time three woman-directed movies landed Finest Image recognition. They embody Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, Celine Music’s Previous Lives and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.
What was the largest snub?
Barbie could have been a narrative of feminist awakening for its titular doll, however the movie’s followers have criticised the Academy voters for displaying no such consciousness on their half.
The largest field workplace hit of the yr, Barbie was snubbed within the Finest Director and Finest Actress classes, regardless of earlier recognition in these domains on the Golden Globes.
Director Greta Gerwig and star Margot Robbie had each generated vital buzz for his or her roles within the movie, too: Gerwig, as an example, turned the primary lady to direct a billion-dollar movie.
Robbie, nonetheless, might nonetheless obtain Oscar gold as a producer if Barbie wins Finest Image — a protracted shot, however not unattainable.
However whereas the ladies on the helm of the movie bought comparatively little Oscar love, Barbie’s male lead, Ryan Gosling, earned a nod for Finest Supporting Actor. He addressed the obvious snub in February with an announcement supporting Robbie and Gerwig.
“There isn’t a Ken with out Barbie,” he wrote. “And there’s no Barbie film with out Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the 2 individuals most liable for this history-making, globally-celebrated movie.”
What protests are anticipated this yr?
As stars parade down the pink carpet at this yr’s Oscars, protesters are anticipated to assemble on Los Angeles’s Sundown Boulevard to exhibit in opposition to Israel’s conflict in Gaza — and remind viewers of the devastation occurring concurrently in cities like Rafah.
The movie Oppenheimer has likewise prompted some backlash, notably with its depiction of the primary profitable atomic bomb check in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Some viewers have criticised the movie for failing to painting the long-term devastation Japan skilled on account of the bomb. Others hope the movie’s prominence on the Oscars may also help shine a lightweight on the New Mexico residents who suffered radiation publicity on account of the assessments, lots of them Hispanic and Indigenous.
Tina Cordova, a most cancers survivor who grew up close to the check website, advised the AFP information company she felt tales like hers had been largely ignored.
“They knew about us once they made the movie,” she advised the information company. “They simply selected to disregard us once more.”
The Washington-based Nuclear Risk Initiative (NTI) additionally launched a marketing campaign within the days main as much as the Oscars ceremony, entitled “For Your Consideration: Make Nukes Historical past”, leveraging the eye Oppenheimer acquired. It printed a letter within the Los Angeles Occasions calling for nuclear disarmament, with signatures from actors like Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas, Emma Thompson and Lily Tomlin.
Who’s internet hosting?
The notoriously thankless job has once more gone to comic Jimmy Kimmel. It will likely be his fourth time internet hosting.
In an interview with the Related Press, Kimmel stated he didn’t plan to make use of overtly political materials, regardless of the US dealing with a heated election yr.
“It’s probably not the main target of the Oscars. It doesn’t imply I gained’t have a joke or two about it. However it’s probably not my aim to invoke the title of he-who-shall-not-be-named on the Oscars,” Kimmel stated, in an obvious reference to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
When are this yr’s Oscars?
The Oscars can be held on Sunday, March 10, on the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The ceremony is ready to start at 7pm Jap Time (22 GMT), an hour sooner than normal.
How can I watch?
The ceremony can be broadcast dwell on the ABC community and on dwell TV streaming platforms within the US.
The Academy additionally has worldwide listings right here.
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