By Tamara Najia, year 10
The Oscars: Hollywood’s most prestigious award ceremony. A night of glitz and glamour to honour the industry’s best performers, screenwriters, producers, directors, costume designers and make-up artists. Winning an Oscar establishes credibility, and the visibility that comes with it opens many doors to future opportunities. To win an Oscar shows the dedication and love you have for what you do. It’s the realisation that you’ve made it. And for the audience, it is to watch and applaud the difference between acting and reality, to discern a new world outside of the screen. Here are the Oscar winners for 2022…
Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: CODA
Starring: Emilia Jones, Troy Kotsur, Marlee Matlin and Daniel Durant
Runtime: 1 hr 51 min
Written by: Sian Heder
Directed by: Sian Heder
CODA stands for Child of Deaf Adults. Ruby is a 17-year-old student who lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts with both her parents and brother and she is the only person in her family who can hear. The film tells the story of Ruby finding herself and finding out she has a passion for music. She eventually has to make a very important decision that could shape her future.
Best Actress
Winner: Jessica Chastain
For her role in: The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Jessica Chastain is an American actress and film producer who began her career as an actress shortly after graduating from Juilliard in 2003. The film follows Tammy Faye Bakker (Chastain) from her humble origins in Minnesota to the rise and fall of her televangelism career.
Best Actor
Winner: Will Smith
For his role in: King Richard
Will Smith is an american actor who started acting in 1986 and is most known for his role in the famous show The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Because of the show’s success, his acting career began. He won the Oscar for his role as Richard Williams, the father of tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams, in the biopic King Richard. He sparked controversy at the 2022 Oscars for slapping comedian Chris Rock after he made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Best Director
Winner: Jane Campion
For the film: The Power of The Dog
Jane Campion is a New Zealand director, screenwriter and producer. She has directed many films such as The Piano (1993), Bright Star (2009) and In the Cut (2003). She is also the first woman to be nominated twice for best Director.
Best Original Song
Winners: Billie Eilish and Finneas
For the song: “No Time to Die”
Featured in what movie: No Time to Die
The song was featured in the 25th James Bond movie, No time to Die, starring Daniel Craig
Best Documentary Feature
Winner: Summer of Soul
Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins
Directed by: Questlove
Summer of Soul is a documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which featured Sly and the Family Stone, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson, and Stevie Wonder, among others, as a way of celebrating Black History Month, culture and music.
Best Original Screenplay
Winner: Belfast
Starring: Jamie Dornan, Caitriona Balfe, Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Written by: Kenneth Branagh
Directed by: Kenneth Branagh
A semi-autobiographical film about a working-class family and their young son growing up in Belfast during the late 1960s. The film is a drama/comedy and was named one of the best films of 2021 by the National Board of Review.
Best Costume Design
Winner: Cruella
Starring: Emma Stone and Emma Thompson
Costume designer: Jenny Beavan
Jenny Beavan is an English costume designer who has been nominated for best costume design eleven different times and has worked in movies such as Mad Max: Fury Road, Cruella, The King’s Speech and Gosford Park.
Best International Feature Film
Winner: Drive My Car
Starring: Reika Kirishima, Tôko Miura and Hidetoshi Nishijima
Written by: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Directed by: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Country: Japan
The film tells the story of Yusuke Fukaku, a stage actor and stage director whose wife unexpectedly dies and leaves behind a secret. Yusuke Fukaku is looking for a chauffeur. The star consults his trusted technician, who recommends a 20-year-old woman named Misaki . Despite their reservations at first, the two create a very close friendship. He later on learns secrets his wife left him and learns the story is much more complex than it seemed.
Best Animated Feature
Winner: Encanto
Starring: Stephanie Beatriz, John Leguizamo and Jessica Darrow
Film Time: 1 hr 39 mins
Written by: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Charise Castro Smith and Jared Bush
Directed by: Byron Howard and Jared Bush
Encanto is an animated movie that tells the story of a family that lives in the mountains in Columbia. Each family member has a magical power which is used to help the people of their village, all except one. With the exception of their grandmother, all the families have power except for the movie’s main character, Mirabel. A big factor of the film was its music, all the songs were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda who is known for creating Broadway musicals Hamilton and In the Heights.
Best visual Effects, best sound, best production design, best film editing, best original score
Winner: Dune
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson and Zendaya
Runtime: 2 hr 35 mins
Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
Written by: Frank Herbert
The film is based on Frank Herbert’s novel Dune which was published in 1965. Dune is the narrative of Paul Atreides, a clever and ambitious young man who must travel to the universe’s most hazardous planet to save his family and people.
Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Ariana DeBose
For her role in: West Side Story
Runtime: 2 hr 36 mins
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Ariana DeBose played Anita in the 2021 adaptation of West Side Story. Ariana DeBose is an American actress, singer, and dancer and has worked in other films and plays such as Hamilton, The Prom and Seaside. Her win was historic as she was the first queer woman of color to win an Oscar.
Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Troy Kotsur
For his role in: CODA
Kotsur is an actor studied theatre at Gallaudet University and subsequently travelled with the National Theatre of the Deaf. There is only one spoken line in the entire film that Troy says. That sentence is “Go.” He became the first deaf man to win an Oscar.
Best Live Action Short Film
Winner: The Long Goodbye
Starring: Leon Ung, Riz Ahmed and Sudha Bhuchar
Runtime: 13 mins
Written by: Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed
Directed by : Aneil Karia
Riz and his British-Pakistani family are getting ready for an approaching wedding in an unknown British town. Everything is fine, and life continues on as usual until protestors attack the neighbourhood and arrest all of the Middle Eastern residents.
Best Animated Short Film
Winner: The Windshield Wiper
Director: Alberto Mielgo
The short film begins with a philosopher going to a cafe and smoking his pack of cigarettes. The man starts thinking about what love is and contemplating on life events and his thoughts are being displayed for the audience to watch.
Best Documentary Short
Winner: The Queen of Basketball
Director: Ben Proudfoot
Lusia Mae Harris, an American professional women’s basketball player, is the subject of the film. Harris is regarded as a pioneer in the field of women’s basketball. Her life and enthusiasm are the focus of the film.
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Winner: The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Linda Dowds, the film’s makeup artist, and Stephanie Ingram, the film’s hairstylist, were nominated for Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling . The tattooed, harder-edged later years, according to Dowds, were the most difficult to nail for the Eyes of Tammy Faye.
Featured image courtesy of Oscars
