And the Oscar goes to…

By Erin Walker

The 95th annual Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, is regarded as one of the most prestigious and significant award ceremonies in the international entertainment industry; statuettes are awarded to those who demonstrate an excellence in artistic and technical merit in the cinematic world. The Academy Awards are the oldest recognised worldwide entertainment awards ceremony, the first being held in 1929 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as it still is today.

This year’s Oscars paid homage to Australia’s sweetheart, Olivia Newton-John after her passing in August of 2022. John Travolta gave a heartfelt speech during the in-memoriam segment exclaiming: “They’ve touched our hearts, they made us smile, and became dear friends who we will always remain hopelessly devoted to”.

Everything Everywhere All at Once dominated at the oscars this year, taking home seven academy award wins overall.
Best Picture (Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang).
Best Writing (Original Screen Play).
Best Film Editing (Paul Rodgers).
Best Actor in Supporting Role (Ke Yuy Quan).
Best Actress in Leading Role (Michelle Yeoh).
Best Actress in Supporting Role (Jamie Lee Curtis).
Best Directing (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert).

All Quiet on The Western Front came in second, taking home four academy awards overall.
Best Cinematography (James Friend).
Best International Feature Film (Germany).
Best Original Score (Volker Bertelmann).
Best Production Design (Christian M. Goldbeck and Ernestine Hipper).

The Whale took home two academy awards overall.
Actor in a Leading Role (Brendan Fraser).
Makeup and Hairstyling (Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Annemarie Bradley).

Best Animated Feature Film was awarded to Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio.
Best Costume Design was awarded to Ruth Carter for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Best Documentary Feature film was awarded to Navalny.
Best Documentary Short Film was awarded to The Elephant Whispers.
Best Original Song was awarded to Naatu Naatu.
Best Animated Short Film was awarded to The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse.
Best Live Action Short Film was awarded to An Irish Goodbye.
Best Sound was awarded to Top Gun: Maverick.
Best Visual Effects was awarded to Avatar: The Way of Water.
Best Adapted Screenplay was awarded to Women Talking.

An Honourable Mention.
The 26 year old Australian film student Lachlan Pendragon, had his 11 minute stop-motion animated film An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It, nominated for Best Animated Short Film. The short film was written, directed and animated by Pendragon alone. Taking three years to write the scripts, build sets and make storyboards, he filmed and animated the film in only ten months, all done in his very own living room during the covid pandemic. Pendragon unfortunately just fell short of the win but it was a dream come true for the Aussie no the less.