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Disclaimer: This article is about the Oscars nominees and winners, not the Will Smith/Chris Rock situation.

Last Sunday, humans all over America turned on their TVs and tuned in to the 94th Academy Awards. For me personally, Oscars night is a bit of a holiday. I tune in to the Nominations announcement at 5:00 am, I try to watch as many of the nominees as possible, and I surf the web for each of the big newsroom’s predictions, while making a few of my own, of course. For those of you who may not know much about the Oscars, let me just break it down real quick for you.

The Academy Awards nominees and winners are chosen by , a group made up of over 9,000 directors, actors, hair stylists, producers, editors, and more.  Membership to the group is either by being nominated for an award or by being sponsored by two members of your current branch. Nominations are chosen by ballot, as well as winners. Once the nominees are chosen, tapes are sent to each member & they are asked to watch and make their choice. See this for a more detailed version of how the voting process works.

Each Oscars winner is chosen by recognized professionals in their industry, outside of Best Picture, which is voted on by all members. This means fellow costumers vote for the Best Costumes award and fellow actresses vote for the Best Actress award.

Let’s get into what you’re really here for: breaking down the winners, losers, and surprises. For a full list of the nominees & winners I don’t mention here, as well as clips from the Oscars, see this .

Dune (directed by Denis Villeneuve, starring Timothee Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, and Zendaya) carried wins in most of the technical categories, going home with 6 statuettes for Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Production Design. Personally, I thought all 6 were well-deserved. This is Greig Fraser’s first win for Cinematography, although I’m certain it will not be his last. His camera work in Matt Reeves’ recent “The Batman” and his work on “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” are both masterfully crafted, so he’s certainly a cinematographer to watch. It’s also Hans Zimmer’s second win for Original Score since 1994’s win for “The Lion King”.

CODA (directed by Sian Heder, starring Emilia Jones, Troy Kotsur, and Marlee Matlin) won the night’s most coveted award for Best Picture. While the film was a sleeper for most of awards season, it picked up pace toward the end, culminating in a fantastic night at the Oscars. The story tells the tale of a young woman who is the only hearing member of her family, who discovers her passion for singing. It is available to stream on Apple TV. Alongside their win for Best Picture, Heder won Best Adapted Screenplay and Kotsur won Best Supporting Actor, the second deaf actor to win an Oscar (fun fact: the first was his co-star Marlee Matlin in 1987!). Due to the success of CODA, this was the first year that the Oscars provided subtitled coverage and ASL interpreters, and truly illustrates the meaningfulness a film can provide and change it can inspire.

The Power of the Dog (directed by Jane Campion, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst and Kodi Smit-McPhee) took home just one award among the many it was nominated for: a coveted Best Director award for Campion. She is the very first woman to be nominated twice for Best Director (the first of which was “The Piano” in 1994) and the third woman director to win an Oscar (after Bigelow in 2010 and Zhao in 2021). From the perspective of a woman in film, this illustrates an important transition into the era of female directors that the industry has been waiting a long time for. Allowing women the platform to tell their stories and access the world of film and media and art is so so important in today’s time. See this link for my review of “The Power of the Dog” and where to stream it.

West Side Story (directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Rachel Zegler, Ansel Elgort, and Ariana DeBose) was nominated for 7 Oscars, in the fields of everything from Directing to Costume Design, but only took home one: Ariana DeBose for Best Supporting Actress. It’s a role DeBose has been riding high this awards season, taking home a SAG Award, BAFTA award, and the Golden Globe. It seems proper to top it off with the most prestigious, an Academy Award. Her performance as Anita, a role Rita Moreno won the Oscar for in 1962, was energetic, passionate, and meaningful for many viewers. Furthermore, DeBose’s win means she is the very first openly queer woman of color to win an Oscar. Hopefully, her win paves the way for many more beautiful souls to take their rightful place in this industry. 

In conclusion, this year’s Oscars was about so much more than the Will Smith/Chris Rock drama, and while yes, the multitude of think pieces may be warranted, it overshadows the great strides that were made in film this year. Each year, the Oscars are a chance for film lovers to champion a film that perhaps didn’t make the headlines it should have, after all, these aren’t Marvel movies. So take a moment to stream CODA, a heartwarming story of love and disability making waves in the industry. Or check out Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” winner of Best International film, a story of grief and love and unlikely friendship. Good movies can alter the fabric of who we are, and every year, the Academy Awards are a reminder of that.