2021 Academy Award Winners

The 2021 Oscar winners were announced during the 93rd Academy Awards presentation which aired live on Sunday, April 25, 2021 from the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood Highland Center. The 2021 Academy Awards honor movies released in 2020.

The show marks its third year without a formal host and was kicked off by Regina King who made a long ultra choreographed walk into the theater. With Covid restrictions, the smaller theater played well. As expected, presenters and winners referenced the political movement of the last year but many fell back to clapping Hollywood on its own back for being so progressive in a way it visibly is not. The political rhetoric was noticeably different this year even though there was politically driven commentary but with Mr. Biden at the helm, nobody took jabs at the Democrat leader as would be expected.

It was sad how quickly they ran through the memorial segment showing the stars we lost. It is usually such an impact-full presentation and seemed rushed. There were some awkward moments like Juaquin Phoenix mumbling his introduction as well as Brad Pitt blowing the pronunciation of two of the nominees. He was put in his place by Youn Yuh-jung when she received the award he announced. As always, there seemed to be a lot of superficial self-congratulation that lets the industry itself, riven with deep racism and misogyny and bullying of its own, off the hook. According to Forbes, “the Academy took a major step forward this go around with a record nine out of 20 non-white actors nominated in the performing categories. There are also more women nominated this year than ever before.” They seem to be doing their part to keep the divide alive. Tyler Perry won a humanitarian award and used his speech to say that he wouldn’t hate a police officer and would like everyone to meet him in the middle.

How come nobody had to wear masks in the theater while sitting close to each other with California’s oppressive mandates? Apparently, due to the theatrical nature of the live ceremony, masks were not required. The biggest surprise of the night surrounded what many call a snub on the late Chadwick Boseman who was expected to posthumously be awarded best actor in a year when the optics of awards going to black actors was expected from the outset. Instead, the award went silently to Anthony Hopkins to the shock of many. Anti-climactic would be the undersell of the season and the show just ended.

Nearly half of the awards (13 of 31 total awards) were divided between six films including Nomadland, The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, Soul, The Sound of Metal and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. ‘Nomadland‘ won the highest honors by being awarded the Academy Award for Best Picture of the year, Best Director and Best Actress. ‘The Father‘ was awarded two Oscars including Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay. The other big winners of the night were ‘Judas and the Black Messiah‘ taking home awards for Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Song, ‘Soul‘ for Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Score, ‘The Sound of Metal‘ for Best Editing and Best Sound, and ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom‘ for Best Makeup and Hairstyling along with Best Costume. One of my favorite documentaries this year was My Octopus Teacher which won the award for Best Documentary Feature.

In our previous post 2021 Academy Award Nominations, we listed out all of the categories and the nominees.  The winners of each category are highlighted in Orange below along with the entire list of nominees.

And The Winner Is …

Best Picture

  • “Nomadland” Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Molley Asher, Dan Janvey and Chloe Zhau, Producers
  • “The Father” David Parfitt, Jean-Louis Livi and Philippe Carcassonne, Producers
  • “Judas and the Black Messiah”Shaka King, Charles D. King and Ryan Coogler, Producers
  • “Mank”Cean Chaffin, Eric Roth and Douglas Urbanski, Producers
  • “Minari” – Christina Oh, Producer
  • “Promising Young Woman”Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell and Josey McNamara, Producers
  • “Sound of Metal”Bert Hamelinck and Sacha Ben Harroche, Producers
  • “The Trial of the Chicago 7”Marc Platt and Stuart Besser, Producers

Best Actor (Performance by an actor in a leading role)

  • Anthony Hopkins in “The Father
  • Riz Ahmed in “Sound of Metal
  • Chadwick Boseman in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
  • Gary Oldman in “Mank
  • Steven Yeun in “Minari

Best Actress (Performance by an actress in a leading role)

  • Frances McDormand in “Nomadland
  • Viola Davis in “Ma Rainy’s Black Bottom
  • Andra Day in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday
  • Vanessa Kirby in “Pieces of a Woman
  • Carey Mulligan in “Promising Young Woman

Best Supporting Actress (Performance by an actress in a supporting role)

  • Yuh-jung Youn in “Minari
  • Maria Bakalova in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
  • Glenn Close in “Hillbilly Elegy
  • Olivia Colman in “The Father
  • Amanda Seyfried in “Mank

Best Supporting Actor (Performance by an actor in a supporting role)

  • Daniel Kaluuya in “Judas and the Black Messiah
  • Sacha Baron Cohen in “The Trial of the Chicago 7
  • Leslie Odom Jr. in “One Night in Miami…
  • Paul Raci in “Sound of Metal”
  • Lakeith Stanfield in “Judas and the Black Messiah

Best Director (Achievement in directing)

  • Chloe Zhao for “Nomadland
  • Lee Isaac Chung for “Minari
  • Emerald Fennell for “Promising Young Woman
  • David Fincher for “Mank
  • Thomas Vinterberg for “Another Round

Best Animated Feature Film

  • Soul– Pete Docter and Dana Murray
  • Onward” – Dan Scanlon and Kori Rae
  • Over the Moon” – Glen Keane, Gennie Rim and Peilin Chou
  • A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon” – Richard Phelan, Will Becher and Paul Kewley
  • Wolfwalkers” – Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Paul Young and Stephan Roelants

Best Documentary Feature

  • My Octopus Teacher– Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed and Craig Foster
  • Collective” – Alexander Nanau and Bianca Oana
  • Crip Camp” – Nicole Newnham, Jim LeBrecht and Sara Bolder
  • The Mole Agent” – Maite Alberdi and Marcela Santibanez
  • Time” – Garrett Bradley, Lauren Domino and Kellen Quinn

Best Original Screenplay

  • Emerald Fennell for “Promising Young Woman
  • Shaka King and Will Berson for “Judas and the Black Messiah
  • Lee Isaac Chung for “Minari
  • Darius Marders and Abraham Marder for “Sound of Metal
  • Aaron Sorkin for “The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Adapted Screenplay

  • Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller for “The Father
  • Sacha Baron Cohen and Anthony Hines for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
  • Chloe Zhao for “Nomadland
  • Kemp Powers for “One Night in Miami
  • Kemp Powers for “One Night in Miami
  • Ramin Bahran for “The White Tiger

Best International Feature Film (Formerly Best Foreign Language Film)

  • Another Round” (Denmark)
  • Better Days” (Hong Kong)
  • Collective” (Romania)
  • The Man Who Sold His Skin” (Tunisia)
  • Quo Vadis, Aida?” (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Best Original Score (Achievement in music written for motion pictures)

  • Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste for “Soul
  • Terence Blanchard for “Da 5 Bloods
  • Trent Reznor and Attacus Ross for “Mank
  • Emile Mosseri for “Minari
  • James Newton Howard for “News of the World

Best Original Song (Achievement in music written for motion pictures)

  • Fight for You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah” – Music by H.E.R. and Dernst Emile II; Lyrics by H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas
  • Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7” – Music by Daniel Pemberton; Lyrics by Daniel Pemberton and Celeste Waite
  • Husavik” from “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga; Music and Lyrics by Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus and Richard Goransson
  • Io Si (Seen)” from “The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)” – Music by Diane Warren; and Lyrics by Diane Warren and Laura Pausini
  • Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami” – Music and Lyrics by Leslie Odom, Jr. and Sam Ashworth

Best Animated Short Film

  • If Anything Happens I Love You” Director: Will McCormack and Michael Govier
  • Burrow” Director: Madeline Sharafian and Michael Capbarat
  • Genius Loci” Director: Adrien Merigeau and Amaury Ovise
  • Opera” Director: Erick Oh
  • Yes-People” Director: Gisli Darri Haldorsson and Arnar Gunnarsson

Best Documentary Short Subject

  • Colette” by Anthony Giacchino and Alice Doyard
  • A Concerto is a Conversation” by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
  • Do Not Split” by Anders Hammer and Charlotte Cook
  • Hunger Ward” by Skye Fitzgerald and Michael Scheuerman
  • Hunger Ward” by Sophia Nahli Allison and Janice Duncan

Best Live Action Short Film

  • “Two Distant Strangers” Director: Travon Free and Desmond Roe
  • Feeling Through” Director: Doug Roalnd and Susan Ruzenski
  • The Letter Room” Director: Elvira Lind and Sofia Sondervan
  • The Present” Director: Farah Nabulsi and Ossama Bawardi
  • White Eye” Director: Tomer Shushan and Shira Hochman

Best Editing (Achievement in film editing)

  • Mikkel E. G. Nielsen for “Sound of Metal
  • Yorgos Lamprinos for “The Father
  • Chloe Zhao for “Nomadland
  • Frederic Thoraval for “Promising Young Woman
  • Alan Baumgarten for “The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Visual Effects (Achievement in visual effects)

  • Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher for “Tenet
  • Matt Sloan, Genevieve Camilleri, Matt Everitt and Brian Cox for “Love and Monsters
  • Matthew Kasmir, Christopher Lawrence, Max Colomon and David Watkins for “The Midnight Sky
  • Sean Faden, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury and Steve Ingram for “Mulan
  • Nick Davis, Greg Fisher, Ben Jones and Santiago Colomo Martinez for “The One and Only Ivan

Best Sound (Achievement in sound editing and achievement in sound mixing – categories combined 2021)

  • Nicolas Becker, jaime Baksht, Michellee Couttolenc, Carlos Cortes and Phillip Bladh for “Sound of Metal
  • Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders and David Wyman for “Greyhound
  • Ren Klyce, jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance and Drew Kunin for “Mank
  • Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller and John Pritchett for “News of the World
  • Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott and David Parker for “Soul

Best Cinematography (Achievement in cinematography)

  • Erik Messerschmidt for “Mank
  • Sean Bobbitt for “Judas and the Black Messiah
  • Dariusz Wolski for “News of the World
  • Joshua James Richards for “Nomadland
  • Phedon Papamichael for “The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Makeup and Hairstyling (Achievement in makeup and hairstyling)

  • Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
  • Marese Langan, Laura Allen and Claudia Stolze for “Emma
  • Eryn Krueger mekash, Matthew Mungle and Patricia Dehaney for “Hillbilly Elegy
  • Gigi Williams, Kimberley Spiteri and Colleen LaBaff for “Mank
  • Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli and Francesco Pegoretti for “Pinocchio

Best Costume Design (Achievement in Costume Design)

  • Ann Roth for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
  • Alexandra Byrne for “Emma
  • Trish Summerville for “Mank
  • Bina Daigeler for “Mulan
  • Massimo Cantini Parrini for “Pinocchio

Best Production Design (Achievement in production design)

  • Donald Graham Burt for “Mank
  • Peter Francis for “The Father
  • Mark Ricker for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
  • David Crank for “News of the World
  • Nathan Crowley for “Tenet