Oscars 2021: Chloé Zhao, Emerald Fennell, Yuh-Jung Youn And More Women Made History At The 93rd Academy Awards!
For many, it’s weird that as an Indian I care so much about the Oscars to wake up at 5:30 am and watch them live. But since the Hollywood does seem to be the gold standard for setting trends and benchmarks, and if it was going to hand out the golden statuette to such a diverse deserving pool of nominees, I wanted to be there for it, you know? Hostless, its usual venue and guests-less, and with red carpets set up across the globe—UK, Australia and of course Los Angeles—the 93rd Academy Awards were not their usual spectacle. But what makes this one special is the Oscars winners’ list. It had some history-making women written all over it—from Chloé Zhao, who became only the second woman in 93 years of Oscars to win a Best Director award for Nomadland, to Yuh-jung Youn, who is the first Korean and the second Asian woman to win an acting Oscar, for Best Supporting Actress for Minari.
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While these two were frontrunners and some of the more obvious wins for the night (or our morning), there were other women who also made history in their own way by taking home an Oscar. Let’s celebrate these sisters, shall we?
Here are all the women that won at the 93rd Academy Awards and some who’ve gone on to make Oscars history!
1. Chloé Zhao
It’s a bittersweet feeling that in the Academy Awards’ 93-year-old history, only two women have bagged the Best Director honour. And Chloé Zhao, who wins for Nomadland, wins the honour after more than a decade of Kathryn Bigelow’s win for The Hurt Locker. But that’s not all that Zhao has accomplished.
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With her win, Chloé Zhao becomes the first Asian woman, the first woman of colour to win a Best Director Oscar. And with Nomadland winning the Best Picture Oscar, it’s a double whammy! As a fellow woman and someone who was rooting for (and predicted) her win, this feels incredible!
Here’s hoping that more women get nominated every year from hereon, and win too!
Also Read: Nomadland Review: Wanderlust And Homesickness Beautifully Coexist In Chloé Zhao’s Oscar-Deserving Film
2. Frances McDormand
Other than the fact that she was brilliant as Fern, the nomadic, van-living protagonist of Zhao’s Oscar-winning Nomadland, I wanted Frances McDormand to win because her speeches are so good! If you remember the “Inclusion Rider” one from her previous Best Actress win for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, you’ll know what I am talking about.
With her third acting Oscar win (she won a Best Actress for Fargo in 1997), McDormand joins an illustrious club of actors like Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson and Daniel Day Lewis, who each have three acting Oscars. They’re all right behind Katherine Hepburn, who has four.
3. Emerald Fennell
Emerald Fennell is a promising young woman indeed! The filmmaker, who’s directorial debut Promising Young Woman was nominated for five awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress, just won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay! This makes her the first woman in 13 years to win this honour!
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4. Yuh-Jung Youn
You may or may not know much of Yuh-Jung Youn besides her acting credit for Minari, but the Korean actor has had a decades-long career in Korean cinema. She has had quite a clean-sweep this awards season, and now she’s managed to bag an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Minari too!
This makes her the second Asian performer and the first Korean actor to win an acting Oscar!
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It also doesn’t hurt that we’re all kinda jealous of her since she got presented the award by dreamboat Brad Pitt, and got to walk off the stage on his arm! Ah, and her speeches are always gold!
Also Read: Minari Review: A Beautiful Film About Family And Belonging That Transcends The American Dream
5. Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a special film for many reasons. For one, Viola Davis scored her fourth Academy Award nomination for the film, making her the most nominated Black actress in Oscars history. The film was also the late Chadwick Boseman’s final, and he has been sweeping posthumous awards this season for his incredible performance in the film that is close to all our hearts.
And now, two Black women, Mia Neal and Jamila Wilson, have added another laurel to their own and the film’s cap by becoming the first Black women to win Oscars for Makeup and Hairstyling!
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6. H.E.R
It’s always a history-making day when women are recognised for their amazing talents. So even if H.E.R winning the Best Original Song for “Fight For You” from Judas And The Black Messiah didn’t exactly break records, I think it is worth celebrating this landmark film and H.E.R win!
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7. Colette
Written and directed by Anthony Giacchino, and produced by Alice Doyard, Annie Small and Aaron Matthews, Colette won at the 93rd Academy Awards for the Best Documentary Short.
Colette tells the story of 90-year-old former French resistance member Colette Marin-Catherine who, along with a young history student Lucie Fouble, visits the Nazi concentration camp where her brother was murdered during the war, 74 years later.
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Here’s a complete list of the Oscars 2021 winners:
Best Picture
Nomadland (Winner)
Promising Young Woman
Minari
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank
The Father
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7
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Best Director
Chloe Zhao (Nomadland) Winner
Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)
Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round)
David Fincher (Mank)
Lee Isaac Chung (Minari)
Also Read: Oscars 2021 Noms: Chloé Zhao, Emerald Fennell Join List Of Five Women Directors To Ever Get An Oscar ‘Best Director’ Nomination
Best Actor
Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal)
Anthony Hopkins (The Father) Winner
Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Gary Oldman (Mank)
Steven Yeun (Minari)
Best Actress
Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Frances McDormand (Nomadland) Winner
Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman)
Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday)
Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman)
Best Supporting Actor
Paul Raci (Sound of Metal)
Sacha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah) Winner
Lakeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah)
Leslie Odom Jr. (One Night in Miami)
Best Supporting Actress
Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy)
Olivia Colman (The Father)
Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)
Amanda Seyfried (Mank)
Youn Yuh-jung (Minari) Winner
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Best Adapted Screenplay
Chloe Zhao (Nomadland)
Sacha Baron Cohen and team (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)
Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton (The Father) Winner
Kemp Powers (One Night in Miami)
Ramin Bahrani (The White Tiger)
Best Original Screenplay
Lee Isaac Chung (Minari)
Will Berson, Shaka King, Keith Lucas, and Kenny Lucas (Judas and the Black Messiah)
Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) Winner
Derek Cianfrance, Abraham Marder, Darius Marder (Sound of Metal)
Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Best Animated Feature
Onward
Over the Moon
Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Soul (Winner)
Wolfwalkers
Also Read: Soul Review: Pixar’s Poignant Film Is Jazz What The Docter Ordered For Your 2020 Existential Blues
Best International Feature Film
Collective
The Man Who Sold His Skin
Another Round (Winner)
Better Days
Quo Vadis, Aida?
Best Documentary
My Octopus Teacher (Winner)
Collective
Crip Camp
The Mole Agent
Time
Best Documentary (Short Subject)
Colette (Winner)
A Concerto Is a Conversation
Do Not Split
Hunger Ward
A Love Song for Latasha
Best Short Film (Animated)
Burrow
Genius Loci
If Anything Happens I Love You (Winner)
Opera
Yes-People
Best Short Film (Live Action)
Feeling Through
The Letter Room
The Present
Two Distant Strangers (Winner)
White Eye
Also Read: It’s Oscars Weekend! Here’s A List Of Films To Watch And Cheer For All The Incredible Women Nominated!
Best Cinematography
Erik Messerschmidt (Mank) Winner
Joshua James Richards (Nomadland)
Sean Bobbitt (Judas and the Black Messiah)
Dariusz Wolski (News of the World)
Phedon Papamichael (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Best Film Editing
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
The Father
Sound of Metal (Winner)
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Best Costume Design
Emma
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Winner)
Mank
Mulan
Pinocchio
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Emma
Hillbilly Elegy
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Winner)
Mank
Pinocchio
Best Production Design
The Father
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank (Winner)
News of the World
Tenet
Best Sound
Greyhound
Mank
News of the World
Soul
Sound of Metal (Winner)
Best Visual Effects
The One and Only Ivan
Love and Monsters
The Midnight Sky
Mulan
Tenet (Winner)
Best Original Score
Da 5 Bloods
Mank
Minari
News of the World
Soul (Winner)
Best Original Song
“Hear My Voice” from The Trial of the Chicago 7
“Fight For You” from Judas and the Black Messiah (Winner)
“Husavik” from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
“lo Sì (Seen)” from The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)
“Speak Now” from One Night in Miami
