Awards in Pop Culture
95th Oscars – Historic Wins, Full Winners List

The 95th annual Academy Awards aired Sunday night and took place at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles and was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, making it his third outing as host. The stars were out and this years “red carpet” was actually champagne – a new twist on and old tradition.
Inside the ceremony, the first award of the night went to Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, for Best animated feature, besting the likes of “Marcel the shell with a show,” “The Sea Beast,” Dreamworks’ “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” and Disney’s “Turning Red.” The win also marks the first time Netflix has won in the animated feature category.
History was made as A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once won 7 Oscars including the evenings top prize Best Picture. The film also won in three of the major acting categories, with first time wins for Michelle Yeoh (who became the first Asian woman to win Best Actress), Ke Huy Quan (Best Supporting Actor), and Jamie Lee Curtis (Best Supporting Actress). The other wins were Best Original Screenplay and Best Director for the Daniels, along with Best Film Editing for Paul Rogers.

Ke Huy Quan completed his historic awards-season run and after a standing ovation, the humble actor fought back tears as he recounted his journey from Vietnam to his dream being on the Oscars stage. See his emotional speech below:
The lead acting prize went to Brendan Fraser The Whale, also an A24 film. Fraser bested Colin Farrell and Austin Butler, who were considered strong contenders. Fraser makes a heart-wrenching turn as Charlie, a 600-pound English teacher who lives a secluded life in his humble apartment. Upon learning that his weight is causing major health complications, he yearns to reconnect with his estranged daughter (Sadie Sink) before it’s too late. “This has been a very rewarding [honor] and a lesson in humility and gratitude,” Fraser said during an interview backstage about his win. “I hope that I live up to this.”
“Naatu Naatu,” the rollicking track from India’s RRR, won Best Song. It’s the first tune from an Indian movie to take the award. “I grew up listening to The Carpenters and now here I am with the Oscars.” songwriter M. M. Keeravani said before breaking out with a variation on the duo’s chart-topping 1973 tune “Top of the World.”
Director Kartiki Gonsalves and producer Guneet Monga became the first Indian filmmakers to claim competitive Oscars after their short documentary The Elephant Whisperers won the Oscar.
The Elephant Whisperers revolves around Bomman and Belli, an Indigenous couple and their “large” family – orphaned elephant calves that they help raise in the Theppakadu Elephant camp within the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in South India. Gonsalves spent five years following this human-elephant blended family for her Netflix documentary.
In the Best Costume category, designer Ruth E. Carter made history becoming the first Black woman to have won two Oscars. Winning this year for Best Costume Design for her work on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Carter, who previously became the first Black woman to win the Oscar for Best Costume Design in 2019 for Black Panther, dedicated the award to her late mother — who she said died recently at the age of 101.
“Thank you for recognizing the superhero that is a Black woman. She endures. She loves. She overcomes. She is every woman in this film. She is my mother. This past week Mable Carter became an ancestor. This film prepared me for this moment,” she said.

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” had a successful night, winning several awards in the first half of the show, including for best international feature, production design and cinematography. Sarah Polley won the best adapted screenplay honor for “Women Talking.” During her acceptance speech she stated, “First of all, I just want to thank the Academy for not being mortally offended by the words ‘women’ and ‘talking’ put so close together like that.”
Avatar: The Way of Water won the much anticipated Oscar for Visual Effects Sundays ceremony. The team of Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, Daniel Barrett, and Richard Banehamtook to the stage and thanked director James Cameron, who was not in attendance. Banehamtook shouted out producer Jon Landau as well as a range of technical colleagues.
See below for a full list of winners.
Best Picture
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, producers)
Best Director
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Best Director
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Best Actress
Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Best Actor
Brendan Fraser, “The Whale”
Best Supporting Actress
Jamie Lee Curtis, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Best Supporting Actor
Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Original Screenplay
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert)
Adapted Screenplay
“Women Talking” (Sarah Polley)
Editing
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (Paul Rogers)
Original Song
“Naatu Naatu,” by M.M. Keeravaani and Chandrabose (“RRR”)
Original Score
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Volker Bertelmann)
Animated Short
“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” (Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud)
Costume Design
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Ruth E. Carter)
Makeup and Hairstyling
“The Whale” (Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Annemarie Bradley)
Cinematography
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (James Friend)
Live-Action Short
“An Irish Goodbye” (Tom Berkeley and Ross White)
Visual Effects
“Avatar: The Way of Water” (Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett)
International Feature
“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Germany (Edward Berger)
Sound
“Top Gun: Maverick” (Mark Weingarten, James Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor)
Production Design
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Christian M. Goldbeck and Ernestine Hipper)
Documentary Feature
“Navalny” (Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris)
Documentary Short
“The Elephant Whisperers” (Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga)
Animated Feature
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”
L. Lamar Booker is Owner/CEO, Editor-in-Chief, Chief Content Officer of Up Your Geek. He hails from Philadelphia, PA. He is a writer, editor, reporter and interviewer as well, and has been covering a wide-range of pop culture and entertainment news, events and Comic-cons since 2015. Opinions expressed are my own.

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