With a number of record-breaking wins that have changed the film industry forever, the 95th annual Oscars can only be described as a historic night.
Perhaps the most historic winner? Michelle Yeoh – who became the first-ever Asian Oscar winner in the Best Actress category. The trending film ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’, which Yeoh won her Oscar for, was nominated eleven times and came away winning seven.
Michelle Yeoh began her acceptance speech by highlighting the monumental win and gave both encouragement and hope for future generations eager to pursue the film industry.
Yeoh stated, “For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities.”
With a disappointing history of white actors being the majority nominated, and, most pivotally, winning, it is phenomenal to see an Asian actress win.
Ke Huy Quan also won Best Supporting Actor, with his gratitude being felt even by viewers watching along at home with his upbeat personality continuing to be electrifying despite “spending a year in a refugee camp…”
Although, not all of the Asian winners came from ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’. The highly anticipated film, ‘The Whale’, won Best Makeup and Hairstyling, with the makeup department head being Judy Chin.
Irish film, ‘Banshee’s of Inisherin’, was nominated for an astounding nine awards – but unfortunately came away with none. However, Dubliner Richard Baneham won his second visual effects Oscar for his work on Avatar: The Way of Water, maintaining the night as a remarkable year for the Irish film industry despite Martin McDonagh’s snub.
Despite this disappointing outcome, almost every category had an Irish nominee. The country that has always had a small Oscar presence before this year has never had so many nominations before. Ireland is known for their rich literary history, James Joyce, in particular, being one of the country’s most famous writers who set up Ireland’s first official venue for film showings in 1909. The Irish cinema, named Dublin Volt, cemented the Irish film industry which has only continued to rise from then on.
Although ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ didn’t win, Oscar history was still made for Ireland.
In fact, on the other end of the country, Northern Irish Comedy-Drama, ‘An Irish Goodbye’, deservedly won best live-action short film at Sunday night’s ceremony – a cause for an early St Patrick’s Day celebration!
As well as this, ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ director, Kartiki Gonsalves, became the first Indian Oscar recipient for the short documentary alongside producer Guneet Monga. Demonstrating a remarkable change in the film industry, it is inspiring to those who have only ever seen predominantly all-white actors repeatedly being nominated by the Academy.
Hopefully, this year has changed the trajectory of representation in film for the better. More films like ‘Parasite’, which won best picture in 2020 and was the first non-English language film to win in that category, have only become more popular as we begin to bring a variety of cultures to mainstream screens. Represented by ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’, it is only the start of more diverse representation in films and definitely not the last.
