By Guillermo Azábal

Los Angeles, US, Mar 10 (EFE).- Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer swept the 96th edition of the Academy Awards, winning seven statuettes including for best picture and best director.

In a largely flat ceremony, the highlight of the night was the performance of Ryan Gosling, again in the shoes – and hot pink suit – of Ken, with which he brought Hollywood’s Dolby Theater to its feet.

Emma Stone and Cillian Murphy met all predictions to collect the awards for best actor and actress for their work on Poor Things and Oppenheimer, respectively.

They were the last awards of the night before the directing and picture awards also went to Oppenheimer.

“Thank you to those who’ve been there for me and believed in me my whole career. To the incredible Emma Thomas, producer of all our films and all our children, I love you,” said an emotional Nolan when accepting the award for best director, his first ever Oscar.

(L-R) Robert Downey Jr., Best Supporting Actor winner; Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Best Supporting Actress winner; Emma Stone, Best Actress winner; and Cillian Murphy, Best Actor winner, hold up their Oscars in the press room during the 96th annual Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA, 10 March 2024. EFE/EPA/ALLISON DINNER

The film based on the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, theoretical physicist and ‘father of the atomic bomb,’ also gave Robert Downey Jr. the best supporting actor award, and won best cinematography, original score and film editing.

“We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb. For better or worse, we’re all living in Robert Oppenheimer’s world,” Murphy said in his acceptance speech. “So I’d like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere.”

Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) could have been the first Native American to win best actress, but lost out to Emma Stone, who won for La La Land in 2017 and was once again victorious with Poor Things.

Stone starred in one of the lighter moments of the night when she realized that she had torn her gown, and when leaving the stage reminded the audience: “Don’t look at the back of my dress.”

Poor Things, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, was also one of the big winners, bagging three awards in the technical sections of best costume design, production design, and makeup and hairstyling.

Christopher Nolan, winner of the Best Directing award and the Best Picture award for ‘Oppenheimer,’ poses with his Oscars in the press room during the 96th annual Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA, 10 March 2024. EFE/EPA/ALLISON DINNER

Box office phenomenon Barbie went into the gala with eight nominations but walked away with only best original song for What I Was Made For? by Billie Eilish and Finneas.

Comedian and presenter Jimmy Kimmel had started the ceremony by criticizing the Hollywood Academy for leaving out Greta Gerwig from the best director category, then calling out the applauding voters, saying: “You’re the ones who didn’t vote for her, by the way. Don’t act like you had nothing to do with this. You did this.”

He also criticized the Academy for not nominating Margot Robbie for lead actress for the same film.

Barbie’s America Ferrera also lost out to Da’Vine Joy Randolph in the best supporting actress category for The Holdovers.

Ryan Gosling (2-R) performs with Margot Robbie (L) Gerta Gerwig (2-L) and America Ferrera (R) the nominated song ‘I’m Just Ken’ from the movie ”Barbie” during the 96th annual Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theater in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA, 10 March 2024.

Martin Scorsese was also out of luck with his latest creation Killers of the Flower Moon, which did not win any of the 10 Oscars for which it was nominated.

The Zone of Interest met expectations, winning best international feature film, and in his acceptance speech, British director Jonathan Glazer said the “film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst, it’s shaped all of our past and present.”

“Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people. Whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization, how do we resist?” he asked.

Best documentary feature went to 20 Days in Mariupol, a portrait of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“This is the first Oscar in Ukrainian history. And I’m honored,” Director and journalist Mstyslav Chernov said in his speech. “But probably I will be the first director on this stage who will say I wish I had never made this film. I wish to be able to exchange this for Russia never attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities.”

Mstyslav Chernov (3-L) Raney Aronson-Rath (L) and Michelle Mizner (2-R) on stage after winning the Oscar for Documentary Feature Film ”20 Days in Mariupol’ during the 96th annual Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theater in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA, 10 March 2024. EFE/EPA/CAROLINE BREHMAN

“I’m calling on you, some of the most talented people in the world. We can make sure that the history record is set straight and that the truth will prevail and that the people of Mariupol and those who have given their lives will never be forgotten, because cinema forms memories, and memories form history.”

Japan’s Hayao Miyazaki made history with The Boy and the Heron to become the second non-English film to win best animated feature, following another of his works, Spirited Away (2001). EFE

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