The Oscar was awarded to the film Everything, everywhere, at once

The independent film by 35-year-old directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert also won three acting statuettes for the protagonists Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis.

Yeoh portrayed the stressed and tired boss of a failing laundry who discovers that she has superpowers in an alternate reality when she visits the tax office. “I would like to show all the boys and girls who look like me and are watching right now that this is a symbol of hope and opportunity. This is proof that you can make your dreams come true,” said the 60-year-old Malaysian native, who won the Oscar for best performance in she was the first Asian woman to take on the lead role. “And ladies, don’t ever let anyone tell you that you’re past your prime,” added the Bond star actress Tomorrow never dies or combat The tiger and the dragon.

Her colleague from the film Ke Huy Quan acted as a boy in the adventure Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom or the film The Rascals, but then disappeared from the eyes of the wider public for decades. At fifty-one, he has now won an Oscar for supporting actor. While receiving the statuette in front of Hollywood’s biggest stars, the Vietnamese native burst into tears and kissed his Oscar. “My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp. And somehow I managed to end up in front of all of Hollywood,” he summed up. He called his comeback unlikely. “You only find stories like this in movies. I can’t believe this happened to me. This is the American dream,” the actor thanked.

The third awardee for Everything, Everywhere, Suddenly is sixty-four-year-old Jamie Lee Curtis, who became famous for horror films like Halloween. She won the Oscar for supporting actress for her role as an employee of the financial office. She thanked her deceased parents, as well as former Oscar-nominated actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. “I just got an Oscar,” she announced to them excitedly.

Brendan Fraser takes home the statuette for male acting in a leading role. In The Whale, he played an extremely obese teacher who tries to find his way back to his estranged teenage door. “I’m so grateful to you,” the actor said on stage at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, where the gala was held.

Netflix’s remake of the anti-war classic Calm on the Western Front received the award for best foreign language film and three others. Director Edward Berger highlighted the talent of the lead actor, twenty-seven-year-old Felix Kammerer, who came on stage with him. “This was your first film and you carried this whole burden like nothing,” thanked Berger. The film was shot mainly in the Czech Republic, but none of the four nominated Czechs in the technical categories received the award in the end. Neither the make-up duo with the Czech Linda Eisenhamerová, nor the team with Viktor Müller and Kamil Jafar nominated for visual effects, nor the sound team with the Czech Viktor Prášil were successful.

The Oscar for documentary goes to Navalny’s film about the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his imprisonment after he returned to Moscow in 2021. According to the AP agency, the West’s distaste for the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine may have contributed to the victory. “My husband is in prison because he told the truth,” the dissident’s wife, economist and activist Julija Navalná, announced on stage. “Alexei, I dream that one day the day will come when you will be free and our country will be free too,” she added.

The best animated title is Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro, voted for the best song by the voters Naatu Naatu from Indian Rrr. For the first time in the history of the Oscars, the so-called emergency team participated in the gala evening, which ended on Monday morning CET. Organizers put it together after last year’s incident, when actor Will Smith punched comedian Chris Rock on stage. The case in the USA damaged the image of the Oscars, Smith is banned from attending the ceremony for ten years because of it.

At the beginning of the evening, two American fighter jets flew over the theater and host Jimmy Kimmel descended on the stage as if he had jumped from them with a parachute. It was a reference to the action film Top Gun: Maverick, who, however, left the evening almost empty-handed, only receiving a statuette for sound.

In the opening monologue, the comedian Kimmel returned to Smith’s Rock face last year. “If there is violence or anything unexpected, do what you did last year – nothing. Alternatively, you can pat the assailant on the back,” Kimmel read to the Hollywood stars. “Whoever stands up and unleashes violence will win the Oscar for best actor and get to give a nineteen-minute speech,” he joked, drawing embarrassed smiles from the audience.

He introduced an unexpected guest on stage: Jenny the donkey, who is befriended by a villager played by Colin Farrell in the nominated film The Fairies of Inisherin. Several titles nominated in the main category ended up completely without awards, including the black comedy The Fairies of Inisherin, which could turn into nine nominations. Not even the psychological drama Tár took home a single one Oscaralthough it was designed for six.

The 95th awards ceremony in the USA was broadcast by ABC television. The host Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been dealing with declining interest for years. The year before last, a record low number of 10.5 million people watched, last year it was already 16.6 million, which is still the second worst result in history. The organizers have yet to announce the viewership of this year’s ceremony. According to the New York Times there’s not much at stake, the academy lives off of advertising revenue and could be hundreds of millions of dollars short of the budget with lower viewership. The most watched ceremony was in 1998, when 57.2 million people watched it.

Instead of the traditional red carpet, the stars in dresses from leading designers walked on a lighter champagne-colored carpet this time. The same team that prepares the gala fundraising evening was behind the unconventional change Met Gala. Rihanna, Lady Gaga or Lenny Kravitz sang during the awards ceremony. The winners of the individual categories were chosen by approximately ten thousand voting actors, producers, directors and other people from the industry.