he cream of Hollywood descended on the iconic Dolby Theatre on Sunday night to celebrate the 94th Annual Academy Awards.
The ceremony began with last year’s Best Supporting Actor winner Daniel Kaluuya and H.E.R presenting the award for Best Supporting Actress to Ariana DeBose for West Side Story, making it her first Oscar nomination – and the second Anita to win one.
“Even in this weird world that we live in, dreams do come true,” the Afro-Latina actress said emotionally.
“To anyone who’s ever questioned your identity… there is indeed a place for us.”
The win comes after a controversial snub from the Oscars for DeBose’s co-star Rachel Zegler, who did not initially receive an invite to the ceremony, despite West Side Story being nominated for seven awards.
She appeared at the show to co-present the award for Best Achievement in Visual Effects alongside Jacob Elordi.
“I never thought I would be here six days ago… dreams really can come true, and pretty fast too,” she quipped.
Following West Side Story’s win, the team behind Dune went onto scoop the award for Best Achievement in Sound, before Dune’s Greg Fraser won Best Cinematography and the film’s VFX team won Best Achievement in Visual Effects.
The Queen of Basketball also scooped the award for Best Documentary Short Subject, while The Windshield Wiper won the award for Best Animated Short Film.
The other big film of 2021, Encanto, also proved a winner on the night, scooping the award for Best Animated Feature Film after a moving performance of Dos Oroguitas, or Two Little Caterpillars, one of the film’s breakout songs.
American actor Troy Kotsur also won Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in deaf-language film CODA, making him the only the second deaf actor to win an Oscar, after co-star Marlee Martin won the first.
Following that, Jenny Beavan won Best Achievement in Costume Design for her work on Disney film Cruella.
Kenneth Branagh won his first Oscar for Best Original Screenplay with film Belfast, while Siân Heder won Best Adapted Screenplay for her work on CODA.
We’ll bring you more as we have it.