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first Chinese female to get best director Oscar prize

Barrier-breaking wins at this year’s Oscars

The Oscars evening was a good night for women and people of colour. Chinese-born filmmaker Chloé Zhao became the second woman and the first non-white woman to get the prize as best director, with her film Nomadland also winning the best picture award.

In the Oscars’ history, only seven women have in total been nominated for the award best director, with two of them winning. Last time was 2010 when Kathryn Bigelow got the statuette for the movie Hurt locker.

Another Oscar barrier was broken for Asian women at this year’s Academy Awards. Yuh-Jung Youn won best supporting actress for her role in Minari, becoming the first actress of Korean descent to win the award.

Frances McDormand’s performance in leading role in Nomadland got the prize as best female actor, while 83 year old Anthony Hopkins got the prize best male actor for his performance in move The Father.

British actor Daniel Kaluuya won Best Supporting Actor for his role as the late Black Panther activist Fred Hampton in the drama, Judas and the Black Messiah.

Best international movie was Danish Another round by Thomas Vinterberg.

The 2021 awards were celebrated in-person despite the pandemic but with a strictly limited number of persons invited.

It was also noted by many that the number of nominees this time was much more diverse with both more women and people of colour nominated after of couple of years when the event has been called OscarsSoWhite.

Last September, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which organises the Oscars, published new inclusion and diversity guidelines that filmmakers will have to meet for their work to be eligible for Best Picture, starting in 2024.

 

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