Paul Thomas Anderson was named Best Director at the 98th Academy Awards, while his film One Battle After Another took home the evening’s top honour for Best Picture during the ceremony held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday night.
The production, which had received 13 nominations, became the biggest winner of the night with six Oscars. Alongside Best Picture and Best Director, the film also won awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing and Best Casting, a category introduced for the first time this year.
At the end of the ceremony, Anderson appeared on stage with members of the cast, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Teyana Taylor, to accept the award for Best Picture. The story follows a former revolutionary fighting to save his daughter.
Another major contender of the evening was Sinners, directed by Ryan Coogler, which had been nominated for 16 Oscars. The film ultimately won four awards. Its cinematographer, Autumn Durald Arkapaw, made history as the first woman ever to win the Academy Award in that category. Coogler, who was also nominated for Best Director, won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Michael B Jordan received the Best Actor award for his performance as twin brothers in a vampire film set in the 1930s during the era of racial segregation. The audience at the Dolby Theatre gave him a standing ovation as he accepted the statuette.
The Oscar for Best Actress went to Jessie Buckley for her role in Hamnet, portraying the wife of William Shakespeare as she mourns the loss of their child. During her speech, Buckley noted that it was Mother’s Day in the United Kingdom and dedicated her remarks to ‘the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart’. She also revealed she is the mother of an eight-month-old daughter.
The award for Best International Feature Film went to the Norwegian drama Sentimental Value, directed by Joachim Trier, which explores the complex relationship between an ageing filmmaker and his daughters. In his speech, Trier quoted American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin, saying that ‘every adult is responsible for every child’.
The evening’s first Oscar was awarded to Amy Madigan, who won Best Supporting Actress for her role in the horror film Weapons. During the ceremony, host Conan O’Brien opened the show by recreating a scene from the film, appearing in character as the witch portrayed by Madigan before running onto the stage. Madigan, 75, recalled that her first Oscar nomination came four decades ago for the film Twice in a Lifetime. She thanked the film’s writer-director, Zach Cregger, the studio Warner Bros, and her husband, actor Ed Harris, who was present in the audience.
The Best Animated Feature award went to K-pop Demon Hunters, while the short animation category was won by The Girl Who Cried Pearls.
Sean Penn won Best Supporting Actor for his role in One Battle After Another, although the three-time Oscar winner was not present to accept the award. The prize was announced by Kieran Culkin.
Meanwhile, Benicio Del Toro’s film Frankenstein won awards for Costume Design, Hair and Makeup, and Production Design.
In the documentary categories, David Borenstein and Pavel Talankin won Best Documentary Feature for Mr. Nobody Against Putin, a film shot over two years in a Russian school. Talankin used his acceptance speech to call for an immediate end to all wars.
The Best Documentary Short award went to Empty Rooms, filmed in the bedrooms of students who died in school shootings in the United States.
Composer Ludwig Göransson won the award for Best Original Score for Sinners, marking another Oscar victory after his previous wins for Oppenheimer and Black Panther.
The Best Original Song award went to ‘Golden’ from K-pop Demon Hunters, which was also performed live during the ceremony.
Other technical awards included Best Sound for the film F1 and Best Visual Effects for Avatar: Fire and Ash.
The ceremony also included the traditional ‘In Memoriam’ segment honouring filmmakers and actors who passed away in the past year, including Robert Redford, Rob Reiner, Diane Keaton and Hungarian director Béla Tarr.
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