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Academy Awards’ golden moments T HIS year’s Oscars saw O ne Actor Miles Caton led other castmates in the rendition of I Lied to You , joined by other A-list o Brief recap of thespians’ historic night

Battle After Another cap its outstanding awards season by taking home the night’s top prize for best picture, as Sinners also won big. It was a particularly competitive night rife with impressive performances, quippy one-liners, high fashion on the red carpet and tearful acceptance speeches. Here’s a rundown of the night’s highlights: Musical moments... and a rare tie The night’s first musical number recreated an extraordinary scene from vampire horror flick Sinners , a montage that traces the history of Black music from West Africa to the Delta Blues to hip-hop. Here are the winners in key categories for the 98th Academy Awards. Best picture: One Battle After Another Best director: Paul Thomas Anderson, O ne Battle After Another Best actor: Michael B. Jordan, Sinners Best actress: Jessie Buckley, Hamnet Best supporting actor: Sean Penn, One Battle After Another Best supporting actress: Amy Madigan, Weapons Best original screenplay: Ryan Coogler, Sinners Best adapted screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another Best international feature film: Sentimental Value (Norway) Best animated feature: Kpop Demon Hunters Best documentary feature: Mr Nobody Against Putin MICHAEL B. Jordan earlier this week won the Best Actor Oscar for playing twins confronted with pure evil in vampire race fable Sinners – tortured fighters typical of the roles director Ryan Coogler has repeatedly created for him. Jordan made good on the momentum he gained by winning the Actor Award – formerly known as SAG Awards – two weeks ago to bring home an Academy Award in his first try. He bested Marty Supreme star Timothee Chalamet, who had been the frontrunner for most of Hollywood’s awards season, along with Leonardo DiCaprio of One Battle After Another, Wagner Moura ( The Secret Agent ) and Ethan Hawke ( Blue Moon ). At age 39, Jordan joins a small circle of Black actors who have won the prestigious Best Actor Oscar, after Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker and Will Smith.

performers such as ballerina Misty Copeland – who danced despite recently undergoing a hip replacement, reported AFP. Later on, the three singers from the fictional girl group Huntr/X from KPop Demon Hunters belted out a rendition of Golden . The smash hit then got its flowers, taking home the prize for Best Original Song and becoming the first K-pop song to win the category. The Oscars audience also witnessed a rare tie: two films won the prize for Best Live-Action Short, Two People Exchanging Saliva and The Singers . “You just ruined 22 million Oscar pools,” said O’Brien, after waiting for the double acceptance speeches to end. Politics take the stage As he presented the award for best international film, past winner Javier Bardem made a statement: “No to war and Free Palestine.” Norwegian family dramedy Sentimental Value won the prize. In his speech, filmmaker Joachim Trier paraphrased African American author James Baldwin, who he said “makes us remember that all adults are responsible for all children.” “Let’s not vote for politicians who don’t take this seriously into account.” Top winner Paul Thomas Anderson said he made One Battle After Another – the top winner with six prizes – for his kids as an apology “for the housekeeping mess that we left in this world we’re handing off to them.” “But also with the encouragement that they will be the generation that hopefully brings us some common sense and decency,” he said. And Pavel Talankin, the co-director and protagonist of

The cast and crew of One Battle After Another accept the award for Best Picture during the 98th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California. – ALL PICS FROM AFP

Mr Nobody Against Putin , said the world should “stop all of these wars now.” Farewell to the greats A lengthy In Memoriam segment was given ample airtime after a year that took a number of film legends with it. Billy Crystal – himself a veteran Oscars host – delivered a heartfelt tribute to his late friend and regular collaborator Rob Reiner, who was murdered along with his wife at their Los Angeles home late last year. A crew of people Reiner famously worked with, including Meg Ryan, then appeared onstage. A who’s who of some of Hollywood’s heaviest hitters who died in the last year were also honored, including Diane Keaton, Catherine O’Hara and Robert Redford. The 83-year-old icon Barbra Streisand sang for her friend Redford, delivering a few bars from The Way We Were for her co-star in the film of the same name. “I stand here because of the people who came before me,” an emotional Jordan told the audience. Sinners , a supernatural tale of racial segregation in 1930s Mississippi, was a box office success in large part due to Jordan’s compelling performances as Smoke and Stack, World War I veterans who return home after working in organised crime in Chicago. The brothers want to open an off-the-books juke joint, smack in the middle of the Prohibition era. Of course, they want to make some money, but they also want to help the locals drown their sorrows in alcohol and the blues. Things quickly go sour when white vampires come calling, looking to quench their thirst for blood and music. Charisma The twin roles fall right in line with other characters designed for Jordan by Coogler, who has featured the

said Streisand.

Conan’s jokes Host Conan O’Brien nodded to politics and pulled a few punches, some with global appeal and a few one-liners for the insiders. “It’s great to be back hosting the Oscars. Last year, when I hosted, Los Angeles was on fire. But this year, everything’s going great,” he joked, pausing for effect. O’Brien also had a pointed industry remark for Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos: “It’s his first time in a theatre.” He also alluded to the Jeffrey Epstein drama-case. “It’s the first time since 2012 that there are no British actors nominated for Best Actor or Best Actress. “A British spokesperson said, ‘Yeah, well, at least we arrest our pedophiles.’” Marty Supreme star Timothee Chalamet, who left empty-handed, also got a notable roast, as O’Brien took shots at the actor who recently disparaged ballet and opera. “It made me double down and fuelled this fire that I had to make it a reality,” Jordan told The Times in the same interview. He has made no secret of going to therapy to shed Killmonger’s demons, but has said little about his private life and described himself to GQ last year as a “workaholic”, whose longest relationship lasted a year. In recent years, he has moved into co-producing some of the films in which he has appeared, including Just Mercy and Without Remorse . He even directed the third instalment of the Creed series himself. He is directing and starring in an upcoming adaptation of The Thomas Crown Affair , expected in theatres in 2027, in which he will play the role of the gentleman thief previously taken on by Steve McQueen and Pierce Brosnan. But Jordan has a new dream. “I’m looking forward to directing something that I’m not in at all,” he told Vanity Fair earlier this year. – AFP

“Bob had real backbone, on and off the screen. “I called him an intellectual cowboy who blazed his own trail,” Ejae, who co-wrote Golden with Mark Sonneblick, takes home K-pop’s first Oscar.

Hollywood’s hottest actor Michael B. Jordan bags first-ever Oscar

actor in all of his films – always a complicated, imperfect man. The pair started their collaboration with Fruitvale Station (2013), in which Jordan played Oscar Grant, a young Black man battling fate until he is shot dead by a police officer. They moved on to the titular boxer in Creed , tormented by his father’s legacy and the villainous Killmonger of Black Panther , traumatised by being an orphan in a racist world. Coogler said Jordan’s success in tough roles is a “testament to his charisma.” “As soon as you put the camera on him, you just naturally care about the guy, he told The New York Times in April last year, when Sinners debuted. The filmmaker has turned Jordan into a star over the last decade, even when the actor doubted he could overcome the perennial obstacles for Black performers in Hollywood. Coogler “gave me the reassurance and the confidence that I needed.

Jordan’s constant portrayal of critically-acclaimed roles has

earned him a reputable resume as Hollywood’s most sought-after actor.