Oscar 2023 Winners – Highlights from the Academy Awards Ceremony

Oscars 2023Industry Insights

by Mascha DeikovaMarch 13^th, 2023

On Sunday, the 95^th Academy Awards once again gathered filmmakers at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles to praise the finest work from the past year. The ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and included several first-time winners, a couple of comebacks, and—as always—plenty of emotional moments. In case you couldn’t watch it yourself, you can find a recap of the evening’s highlights below – along with a majority of this year’s Academy Award 2023 winners.

And the Oscar goes to… This famous phrase precedes the announcement of all the awards in 23 different categories. This year, the stage belonged to the makers of “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, an A24 multiverse feature. They took home seven awards, including the coveted prize for Best Picture.

On the top of the Oscar 2023 winners list

A bizarre (in a good way) and astonishingly spectacular comedic drama, directed by the Daniels duo, was the most successful this year. In addition to the top award, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” won awards for its direction, original screenplay, editing, as well as for some of the actors’ performances. In particular, Michelle Yeoh, who played the main character, Evelyn, became the first-ever Asian woman to receive the award for Best Actress.

Another first-time winner and Yeoh’s stage husband Ke Huy Quan received the prize for Best Supporting Actor. Accepting his gold-plated statuette, he delivered an emotional speech to a standing ovation, which was, without a doubt, one of the most touching moments in the ceremony. As a child, Ke Huy appeared in big movies like “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”, but gave up on acting for a long stretch until his comeback in “Everything Everywhere All at Once”.

My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp and somehow I ended up here on Hollywood’s biggest stage. They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I cannot believe it’s happening to me. (…) Dreams are something that you have to believe in. I almost gave up on mine. To all of you out there, please keep your dreams alive.

Ke Huy Quan, a quote from his Oscar acceptance speech

One of the directors, Daniel Scheinert, dedicated their big moment to all the mommies in the world, because, as they discussed in the press room afterward, although the film’s story follows an Asian immigrant family, there is a universal truth to all parents, which they wanted to communicate in this work.

Other major Oscar 2023 winners

Apart from Ke Huy Quan, Brendan Fraser also experienced a big comeback moment, taking home his first Academy Award. He won Best Actor for his performance in yet another A24 film, “The Whale”. An American psychological drama by Darren Aronofsky follows Charlie (Brendan Fraser’s character), who is a morbidly obese and lonely English professor, teaching online with the webcam off, ashamed of his physical appearance.

Among other major Oscar 2023 winners is Guillermo del Toro, who earned his third Oscar for Best Animated Feature—“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”, a stop motion masterpiece, Sarah Polley, who received the award for Best Adapted Screenplay for “Women Talking” and Ruth E. Carter, winning her second Oscar for Best Costume Design on “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”.

Big international moments at the 95^th Academy Awards

Netflix’s “All Quiet on the Western Front” won Best International Film, bringing the third Oscar to Germany. But not only in this category. The new film adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s novel about World War I scored three other awards, including awards for original score, production design, and the film’s cinematography. We wrote about the immersive camera work of James Friend here.

Another international film getting praise from the Academy was the “Navalny” documentary by the Canadian director Daniel Roher. Accepting the prize for Best Documentary Feature, Daniel dedicated this success to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and to all political prisoners around the world. (Prior to Oscars ’23, we spoke with the documentary cinematographer Niki Waltl about capturing history and the creative process behind it).

Among other spectacular moments during the 95^th Oscars, was the recreation of the song-and-dance number from the movie “RRR”. If you watched this musical, you would definitely know the infectious and energetic song “Naatu Naatu”. It also made history by becoming the first song from an Indian film to win in the category.

Conclusion

To read the full list of the Oscar 2023 winners and nominees, please head over to the official Academy Award site.

Did you follow the Oscars this year? Do you agree with the winner’s list or were there any films that didn’t meet your expectations? Let’s discuss the 95^th Academy Awards in the comments below.

Feature image: the makers of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” in the Oscars press room.
Image credit: A.M.P.A.S., 2023