The 95th Academy Awards: A Look Back at the Iconic Oscar 2023 Winners
The Academy Awards, sometimes known as the Oscars, are global film industry awards for creative and technical brilliance. Many consider the honors to be the most prestigious and influential in the United States entertainment business. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) presents awards each year to recognize excellence in cinematic achievements of mostly American films.
The various category winners receive a replica of a golden statuette as a trophy, officially known as the “Academy Award of Merit,” but more often known as the “Oscar.” The figurine, which depicts a knight in the Art Deco style, was created by Los Angeles artist George Stanley based on a design study by art director Cedric Gibbons.
The Host of The Show
Jimmy Kimmel was the host for the third time since 2018. That was also the final Oscars with a single host. After Kimmel’s last appearance, the show went hostless for several years. Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, and Wanda Sykes headlined as a trio last year. Kimmel made his modest case for being the appropriate person for the position in a commercial for this year’s program themed like “Top Gun: Maverick,” saying that he can’t be slapped because “I cry a lot.”
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The Elaborate Process for Nominations
We talk of nominees, but do we know exactly what it takes for one to be nominated for the prestigious Oscars?
The voting procedure that selects which films and filmmakers are nominated for Oscars is a lengthy and involved process involving over 8000 voting members and hundreds of qualified films, actors, actresses, filmmakers, cinematographers, editors, composers, and others.
To even be considered for a nomination, let alone win the coveted gold statuette, a rigid procedure defined by precise standards must be followed, all of which are linked to the historic history of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences itself.
For more than 80 years, an accounting team at PwC has handled the chores of mailing out ballots and tabulating the findings for the Oscar voting process.
The firm delivers ballots of eligible nominations to Academy members in December to reflect the previous eligible year, with a due date in January of the following year, then tabulates the votes in a process that takes approximately 1700 hours.
Choosing the winners is much easier: Following the selection of nominees, the entire Academy votes on each category. Each member is allowed one vote in each category (though they are discouraged from voting in categories they don’t completely understand or in which they haven’t seen all of the nominated films), and the film or actor with the most votes wins. PwC completes the procedure in three days.
The most awaited hour was the announcement of the ‘Best Picture’ and what classic nominees were witnessed, gosh! Each amazing as the other. The ten movies competing for best picture were: “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Elvis,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “The Fabelmans,” “Tár,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Triangle of Sadness,” “Women Talking.”
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The Oscars will feature performances by all of the nominees for Best Original Song :
Rihanna will perform her track “Lift Me” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at the Oscars, following her recent Super Bowl performance. “This Is a Life” by Everything Everywhere All at Once will be performed by David Byrne, Son Lux, and actress Stephanie Hsu, who replaces original performer Mitski. Sofia Carson, accompanied by Diane Warren, will perform “Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman, and RRR’s “Naatu Naatu” will also be performed at the awards ceremony.
Here’s a List of the Top Winners You Must Know
Best Picture: “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Best Actress: Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Best Actor: Brendan Fraser, “The Whale”
Best Director: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Best Original Song: “Naatu Naatu,” “RRR”
Best Documentary Feature: “Navalny”
Best Visual Effects: “Avatar: The Way of Water”
Best Sound: “Top Gun: Maverick”
Best: Documentary (Short Subject): “The Elephant Whisperers”
To read further about the esteemed winners at the Oscars, one can find a full categorical list here.
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Moments that Made the Oscars of 2023, Special
- This year’s red carpet was, for some reason, Champagne-colored. The Oscars organizers explained its unusual choice by stating that they intended this year’s carpets to be soothing.
- Jamie Lee Curtis dedicated her first Oscar for Best Supporting Actress to the cast, crew, family, and “all of the people who have supported the genre movies” she’s made over the years after winning the prize for her part as IRS investigator Deirdre Beaubeirdra in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
- Acceptance speeches are generally filled with thank-yous and tears, but after winning Best Live Action Short Film, An Irish Goodbye’s writers spent the second half of their time onstage singing happy birthday to star James Martin.
- Lady Gaga, in her Versace gown, rushed to the rescue of a photographer who had a fall on the red carpet.
- After Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava’s energetic rendition of RRR’s “Naatu Naatu,” we all want suspenders. The dance got the Dolby Theatre to its feet, with Bollywood actress and presenter Deepika Padukone describing the anti-colonialist Telegu track as “a total banger.”
- Michelle Yeoh, who played superheroic mom Evelyn Quan Wang in Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, made history by being the first woman of color to win Best Actress in nearly 20 years.
The first Academy Awards ceremony took place in 1929 at a private luncheon given by Douglas Fairbanks at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The Academy Awards ceremony was initially broadcast on radio in 1930 and then on television in 1953.
The 95th Oscars aired live on ABC on Sunday, March 12, 2023.
