Oscars 2021 – Chloé Zhao Makes History with Best Director Win

Award

by Larissa MoriApril 26^th, 2021

Chloé Zhao has officially made history by becoming the first woman of color (and second woman ever) to win an Academy Award for best director for her work on “Nomadland”. Let’s take a look at the full list of Oscar winners and highlights from the night below.  

We saw red carpet looks once again yesterday, as the 93^rd annual Academy Awards ceremony took place in person (the show was treated like a movie set, so nominees were able to remain maskless, but only when cameras were rolling. The awards were also spread out across several locations to minimize risk.)

The winner of best director, though, wasn’t as familiar a sight as the suits and gowns. After 93 years, Chloé Zhao has officially made history by becoming the first woman of color to win the Academy Award for best director for her work on “Nomadland”.

Zhao is now only the second woman to ever win the award, after Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker” 11 years ago.

“Nomadland” also won the highly-coveted best picture award and picked up the best actress Oscar for Frances McDormand. However, in China,  Zhao’s country of birth, posts about Zhao’s victory were removed and Weibo searches for her Chinese name returned censored results.

This is apparently following comments that have surfaced from an eight-year-old interview where Zhao described being a teenager in China as “a place where there are lies everywhere”.

Interestingly, Zhao has directed Marvel Cinematic Universe entry “Eternals” next, which is currently in post-production, making her the first Academy Award winner for best director to work on a Marvel project.

We’ll be watching closely to see how the release of this blockbuster unfolds, considering the current censorship of Zhao in China.

As well as “Nomadland”, there were other big firsts from yesterday’s awards. It was the first time an all-Black producing team was nominated for best picture for “Judas and the Black Messiah”, the first time two actors of Asian heritage – Riz Ahmed and Steven Yeun – received a nod for best actor and the first year that two women – Zhao and Promising Young Woman’s Emerald Fennell – were nominated for best director.

Other highlights include Netflix taking home a huge seven trophies including two for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” and two for “Mank” – the film which saw Erik Messerschmidt win his first Oscar for best cinematography. Disney also took home an impressive five trophies with three for “Nomadland” and two for “Soul”.

For many, the biggest shock of the night was when Anthony Hopkins won best actor for his work on “The Father” over the late Chadwick Boseman for his work on “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”.

The full list of winners is below:

Best picture

• Winner: Nomadland
• The Father
• Judas and the Black Messiah
• Mank
• Minari
• Promising Young Woman
• Sound of Metal
• The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best director

• Winner: Nomadland – Chloe Zhao
• Another Round – Thomas Vinterberg
• Mank – David Fincher
• Minari – Lee Isaac Chung
• Promising Young Woman – Emerald Fennell

Best cinematography

• Winner: Mank – Erik Messerschmidt
• 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

Best film editing

• Winner: Sound of Metal – Mikkel EG Nielsen
• The Father – Yorgos Lamprinos
• Nomadland – Chloé Zhao
• Promising Young Woman – Frédéric Thoraval
• The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Alan Baumgarten

Best visual effects

• Winner: Tenet – Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher
• 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 – Santiago Colomo Martinez, Nick Davis, Greg Fisher

Best actress

• Winner: Frances McDormand – Nomadland
• 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

Best actor

• Winner: Anthony Hopkins – The Father
• Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal
• Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
• Gary Oldman – Mank
• Steven Yeun – Minari

Best supporting actress

• Winner: Yuh-Jung Youn – Minari
• Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
• Glenn Close – Hillbilly Elegy
• Olivia Colman – The Father
• Amanda Seyfried – Mank

Best supporting actor

• Winner: Daniel Kaluuya – Judas and the Black Messiah
• Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7
• Leslie Odom Jr – One Night in Miami
• Paul Raci – Sound of Metal
• Lakeith Stanfield – Judas and the Black Messiah

Best original screenplay

• Winner: Promising Young Woman – Emerald Fennell
• Judas and the Black Messiah – Will Berson, Shaka King, Will Berson, Kenny Lucas and Keith Lucas
• Minari – Lee Isaac Chung
• Sound of Metal – Darius Marder, Abraham Marder, Derek Cianfrance
• The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Aaron Sorkin

Best adapted screenplay

• Winner: The Father – Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller
• Borat Subsequent Moviefilm – Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Mazer, Jena Friedman and Lee Kern
• Nomadland – Chloé Zhao
• One Night in Miami – Kemp Powers
• The White Tiger – Ramin Bahrani

Best animated feature

• Winner: Soul
• Onward
• Over the Moon
• A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
• Wolfwalkers

Best documentary feature

• Winner: My Octopus Teacher – Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed and Craig Foster
• Collective – Alexander Nanau and Bianca Oana
• Crip Camp – Nicole Newnham, Jim LeBrecht and Sara Bolder
• The Mole Agent – Maite Alberdi and Marcela Santibáñez
• Time – Garrett Bradley, Lauren Domino and Kellen Quinn

Best international feature

• Winner: Another Round (Denmark)
• Better Days (Hong Kong)
• Collective (Romania)
• The Man Who Sold His Skin (Tunisia)
• Quo Vadis, Aida? (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Best original song

• Winner: Fight For You – Judas and the Black Messiah (H.E.R., Dernst Emile II and Tiara Thomas)
• Hear my Voice – The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Daniel Pemberton and Celeste Waite)
• Husavik – Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus and Rickard Göransson)
• Io Si (Seen) – The Life Ahead [La Vita Davanti a Se] (Diane Warren and Laura Pausini)
• Speak Now – One Night in Miami… (Leslie Odom, Jr and Sam Ashworth)

Best original score

• Winner: Soul – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste
• Da 5 Bloods – Terence Blanchard
• Mank – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
• Minari – Emile Mosseri
• News of the World – James Newton Howard

Best costume design

• Winner: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Ann Roth
• Emma – Alexandra Byrne
• Mank – Trish Summerville
• Mulan – Bina Daigeler
• Pinocchio – Massimo Cantini Parrini

Best sound

• Winner: Sound of Metal – Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés and Phillip Bladh
• 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

Best production design

• Winner: Mank – Donald Graham Burt and Jan Pascale
• The Father – Peter Francis and Cathy Featherstone
• Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Mark Ricker, Karen O’Hara and Diana Stoughton
• News of the World – David Crank and Elizabeth Keenan
• Tenet – Nathan Crowley and Kathy Lucas

Best make-up and hairstyling

• Winner: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson
• 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

Best live action short

• Winner: Two Distant Strangers – Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe
• Feeling Through – Doug Roland and Susan Ruzenski
• The Letter Room – Elvira Lind and Sofia Sondervan
• The Present – Farah Nabulsi
• White Eye – Tomer Shushan and Shira Hochman

Best animated short

• Winner: If Anything Happens I Love You – Will McCormack and Michael Govier
• Burrow – Madeline Sharafian and Michael Capbarat
• Genius Loci – Adrien Mérigeau and Amaury Ovise
• Opera – Erick Oh
• Yes-People – Gísli Darri Halldórsson and Arnar Gunnarsson

Best documentary short

• Winner: Colette – Anthony Giacchino and Alice Doyard
• 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

Header image credit: Todd Wawrychuk / A.M.P.A.S.

What did you think of this year’s Academy Awards? Let us know in the comments below!