Oscars 2021: ‘Nomadland’ is the top winner with awards for best picture and direction

Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland won the Oscars that mattered on Sunday, picking up the awards for Best Picture and Best Direction. Zhao, of Chinese origin, became only the second woman to win in the directing category – the previous honour belongs to Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker in 2010.

In her acceptance speech, 39-year-old Zhao said, “This is for anyone who has the faith and courage to hold on to the goodness in themselves, and to hold on to the goodness in each another.”

Frances McDormand was named Best Actress in a Leading Role for movingly portraying a van dweller who makes new friends and discoveries on her journey. McDormand has previously won for Fargo and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Other history makers at the 93rd Academy Awards included Anthony Hopkins. The 83-year-old Welshman is the oldest performer to win in the Actor in a Leading Role Category for The Father. Florian Zeller’s debut stars Hopkins in brilliant form as an octogenarian dealing with dementia.

Youn Yuh-jung is the first Korean woman to win in the Actress in a Supporting Role category. She got the Oscar for her performance as an eccentric grandmother in Minari. Lee Isaac Chung’s movie, about South Korean immigrants in America in the 1980s, was nominated in five other categories.

Youn said in her acceptance speech, “I don’t believe in competition, but how can I win over Glenn Close?” Close was nominated for Hillbilly Elegy. She has been nominated seven times previously but has never won the award.

“All the nominees, five nominees, we are the winners for different movies.... we can’t compete with each other,” Youn added. “I had a little bit of luck. I’m luckier than you! Also, maybe [it’s because of] American hospitality for a Korean actor.”

Ann Roth became the oldest costume designer to win for the screen adaptation of the play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Roth, who is 91, has over a hundred credits, including Klute, The Birdcage, The English Patient and Mamma Mia! Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson emerged as the first Black women to win the Oscar for hair and makeup for the same movie.

Seventy women were nominated across categories and 17 women won, which was more than 15 women in 2019, Deadline noted.

British actor and writer Emerald Fennell won the Original Screenplay Oscar for Promising Young Woman, starring Carey Mulligan. The dark comedy explores the theme of justice for sexual crimes. Playwright and first-time filmmaker Florian Zeller won the Adapted Screenplay award for The Father, which is based on his play La Pere.

Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 was nominated in six categories but failed to pick up a single award. David Fincher’s Mank, about the making of Orson Welles’s directorial debut Citizen Kane in 1941, got 10 nominations and only two awards: for cinematography and production design.

Several wins were on expected lines: the Pixar production Soul, about a jazz musician who tries to reunite his body and spirit, won in the Animated Feature Film category. Daniel Kaluuya won Actor in a Supporting Role for his powerful performance as a Black Panthers leader in Judas and the Black Messiah. Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round was named Best International Feature Film.

The Oscars took place in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic. The awards were delayed by two months to allow the number of infections to fall. With cinemas across America shut for much for 2020, some of the leading contenders were released on a limited number of screens or directly on streamers, such as Mank, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Soul.

The ceremony reflected the changed circumstances. Show producers Steven Soderbergh, Stacey Sher and Jesse Collins created a hybrid format between an in-person and virtual experience. Parts of the event were held at Union Station in Los Angeles – a prominent movie location – as well at the Dolby Theatre, the Academy Awards’ traditional venue. Hubs were also set up in New York and London for guests and nominees who could not travel to the United States.

Here is the complete list of winners.

Best Picture

Won

Nomadland, produced by Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey and Chloe Zhao.

Also nominated

The Father, produced by David Parfitt, Jean-Louis Livi and Philippe Carcassonne.

Judas and the Black Messiah, produced by Shaka King, Charles D King and Ryan Coogler.

Mank, produced by Cean Chaffin, Eric Roth and Douglas Urbanski.

Minari, produced by Christina Oh.

Promising Young Woman, produced by Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell and Josey McNamara.

Sound of Metal, produced by Bert Hamelinck and Sacha Ben Harroche.

The Trial of the Chicago 7, produced by Marc Platt and Stuart Besser.

Directing

Won

Chloe Zhao, Nomadland.

Also nominated

Mank, David Fincher.

Another Round, Thomas Vinterberg.

Minari, Lee Isaac Chung.

Promising Young Woman, Emerald Fennell.

International Feature Film

Won

Another Round, Thomas Vinterberg, Denmark.

Also nominated

Better Days, Hong Kong.

Collective, Romania.

The Man Who Sold His Skin, Tunisia.

Quo Vadis, Aida?, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Writing (Original Screenplay)

Won

Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman.

Also nominated

Minari, written by Lee Isaac Chung.

Judas and the Black Messiah, screenplay by Will Berson and Shaka King; story by Will Berson, Shaka King, Kenny Lucas and Keith Lucas.

Sound of Metal, screenplay by Darius Marder and Abraham Marder; story by Darius Marder and Derek Cianfrance.

The Trial of the Chicago 7, written by Aaron Sorkin.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Won

Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton, The Father.

Also nominated

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Mazer, Jena Friedman, Lee Kern; story by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer and Nina Pedrad.

Nomadland, written for the screen by Chloe Zhao.

One Night in Miami, screenplay by Kemp Powers.

The White Tiger, written for the screen by Ramin Bahrani.

Actress in a Leading Role

Won

Frances McDormand, Nomadland.

Also nominated

Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

Andra Day, The United States vs Billie Holiday.

Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman.

Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman.

Actor in a Leading Role

Won

Anthony Hopkins, The Father.

Also nominated

Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal.

Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

Gary Oldman, Mank.

Steven Yeun, Minari.

Actress in a Supporting Role

Won

Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari.

Also nominated

Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.

Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy.

Olivia Colman, The Father.

Amanda Seyfried, Mank.

Actor in a Supporting Role

Won

Daniel Kaluuya, Judas And The Black Messiah.

Also nominated

Paul Raci, Sound Of Metal.

Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial Of The Chicago 7.

Leslie Odom Jr, One Night In Miami.

Lakeith Stanfield, Judas And The Black Messiah.

Cinematography

Won

Mank, Erik Messerschmidt.

Also nominated

Judas And The Black Messiah, Sean Bobbitt.

News Of The World, Dariusz Wolski.

Nomadland, Joshua James Richards.

The Trial Of The Chicago 7, Phedon Papamichael.

Film Editing

Won

Sound of Metal, Mikkel EG Nielsen.

Also nominated

Nomadland, Chloe Zhao.

The Father, Yorgos Lamprinos.

Promising Young Woman, Frederic Thoraval.

The Trial of the Chicago 7, Alan Baumgarten.

Sound

Won

Sound of Metal, Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortes and Phillip Bladh.

Also nominated

Greyhound, Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders and David Wyman.

Mank, Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance and Drew Kunin.

News of the World, Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller and John Pritchett.

Soul, Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott and David Parker.

Production Design

Won

Mank, production design Donald Graham Burt, set decoration Jan Pascale.

Also nominated

The Father, production design Peter Francis, set Decoration Cathy Featherstone.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, production design Mark Ricker, set decoration Karen O’Hara and Diana Stoughton.

News of the World, production design David Crank, set decoration Elizabeth Keenan.

Tenet, production design Nathan Crowley, set decoration Kathy Lucas.

Visual Effects

Tenet, Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher.

Won

Also nominated

Love and Monsters, Matt Sloan, Genevieve Camilleri, Matt Everitt and Brian Cox.

The Midnight Sky, Matthew Kasmir, Christopher Lawrence, Max Solomon and David Watkins.

Mulan, Sean Faden, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury and Steve Ingram.

The One and Only Ivan, Nick Davis, Greg Fisher, Ben Jones and Santiago Colomo Martinez.

Costume Design

Won

Ann Roth, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

Also nominated

Emma, Alexandra Byrne.

Mank, Trish Summerville.

Mulan, Bina Daigeler.

Pinocchio, Massimo Cantini Parrini.

Make Up and Hair Styling

Won

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson.

Also nominated

Emma, Marese Langan, Laura Allen and Claudia Stolze.

Hillbilly Elegy, Eryn Krueger Mekash, Matthew Mungle and Patricia Dehaney.

Mank, Gigi Williams, Kimberley Spiteri and Colleen LaBaff.

Pinocchio, Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli and Francesco Pegoretti.

Music (Original Score)

Won

Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste, Soul.

Also nominated

Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Mank.

James Newton Howard, News of the World.

Terence Blanchard, Da 5 Bloods.

Emile Mosseri, Minari.

Music (Original Song)

Won

Fight for You, Judas and the Black Messiah, music by H.E.R. and Dernst Emile II, lyric by H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas.

Also nominated

Hear My Voice, The Trial of the Chicago 7, music by Daniel Pemberton, lyric by Daniel Pemberton and Celeste Waite.

Husavik, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, music and lyric by Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus and Rickard Goransson.

Io Si (Seen), The Life Ahead, music by Diane Warren, lyric by Diane Warren and Laura Pausini.

Speak Now, One Night in Miami, music and lyric by Leslie Odom, Jr and Sam Ashworth.

Documentary Feature

Won

My Octopus Teacher, Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed and Craig Foster.

Also nominated

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.

Documentary Short Subject

Won

Collete, Anthony Giacchino and Alice Doyard.

Also nominated

A Concerto is a Conversation, Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers.

Do Not Split, Anders Hammer and Charlotte Cook.

Hunger Ward, Skye Fitzgerald and Michael Scheuerman.

A Love Song for Latasha, Sophia Nahli Allison and Janice Duncan.

Live Action Short Film

Won

Travon Free, Martin Desmond Roe, Two Distant Strangers.

Also nominated

Doug Roland, Feeling Through.

Elvira Lind, The Letter Room.

Farah Nabulsi, The Present.

Tomer Shushan, White Eye.

Animated Feature Film

Won

Soul, Pete Docter and Dana Murray.

Also nominated

Wolfwalkers, Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Paul Young and Stéphan Roelants.

Onward, Dan Scanlon and Kori Rae.

Over the Moon, Glen Keane, Gennie Rim and Peilin Chou.

A Shaun and the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, Richard Phelan, Will Becher and Paul Kewley.

Animated Short Film

Won

If Anything Happens I Love You, Michael Govier, Will McCormack.

Also nominated

Burrow, Madeline Sharafian.

Genius Loci, Adrien Merigeau, Nicolas Pleskof.

Opera, Erick Oh.

Yes-People, Gisli Darri Halldorsson.

Also read:

‘Nomadland’ movie review: A piercing portrayal of displacement and self-discovery

Resul Pookutty on why Riz Ahmed’s ‘Sound of Metal’ is a ‘technical triumph’

‘The Father’ movie review: Anthony Hopkins is brilliant in forgetting and holding on

‘Soul’ review: A music teacher returns from the afterlife for one last gig

‘Another Round’ review: Mads Mikkelsen dazzles as a teacher who tries to drink away a midlife crisis

In photos: David Fincher’s ‘Mank’ goes behind the scenes of the classic movie ‘Citizen Kane’

‘Minari’ movie review: Tender performances in a Korean family’s encounter with the American dream

‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ review: Treachery and remorse in drama about the Black Panther Party